Financial services group Steubling wrote in a research note that ArcelorMittal will idle around 8.4 million tonnes of pig iron capacity at plants in Western Europe in the coming weeks.

Steubling's calculation includes two blast furnaces in Belgium as well as ones in France and Spain. The largest blast furnace in Germany will be mothballed and a smaller one re commissioned. The figure does not include other European locations, including Romania, where temporary layoffs were announced last month following cuts in production.

Last week, ArcelorMittal said that harsh market conditions had made it necessary to continue the suspension of production at its sites in Europe.

In a presentation, dated March 18th 2009, ArcelorMittal said that its capacity utilization would remain between 55% and 60% during the first quarter of 2009.

(Sourced from www.platts.com)