UPDATE 1-Salzgitter sees no signs of strong steel recovery

* Salzgitter sees no signs of strong steel market recovery

* Q2 pretax loss 96.9 mln eur vs poll avg loss 84 mln

* Tubes H1 pretax profit 96 mln eur

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FRANKFURT, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Salzgitter (SZGG.DE), Germany's second-biggest steelmaker, posted a wider-than-expected pretax loss in its second quarter and gave a downbeat outlook.

"There are as yet no signs of a strong and sustained turnaround in the steel market," the company said on Thursday.

A pretax loss was expected in the second half of the year but is unlikely to be as high as the first-half loss of 195.2 million euros, it said.

It swung to a second-quarter pretax loss of 96.9 million euros ($136.9 million), wider than average 84 million euro loss expected in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Salzgitter's divisions Steel, Trading and Technology continued to be hit by the recession, with all three posting losses in the second quarter.

But income from the Tubes division -- which makes steel pipelines for the oil and gas industry -- and Salzgitter's stake in Aurubis (NAFG.DE), Europe's largest copper maker, helped offset some of the negative impact.

Salzgitter in late June toned down its earlier optimism as analysts debated about the speed and duration of an economic recovery, dashing hopes raised in May when new orders rose for the first time since November 2008.

Chief Executive Wolfgang Leese then cut the company's 2009 outlook to a slight net loss for the year. Salzgitter had previously forecast breakeven at both the net and pretax levels assuming a strong and sustainable turnaround in steel markets.

The world's No.1 steelmaker, ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS), last month forecast only a gradual recovery of demand in the second half of 2009 after posting a worse-than-expected net loss on inventory writedowns and provisions for job cuts. [ID:nLT648279]

Nippon Steel, the world's second largest steelmaker, warned last month that it might need to revise its full-year forecast for zero profit given weak demand at home and uncertainties in Asia's export market. [ID:nT184210]

Salzgitter trades at 27.5 times its forward 12-month earnings while bigger rival ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE) trades at 23.7, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine, which weights analyst estimates according to their track record. (Reporting by Marilyn Gerlach; Editing by Michael Shields)