Europe largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal has confirmed to S&P Global Commodity Insights that it has gone ahead with its plan to temporarily shut down some of its blast furnaces in France, Poland, Spain and Germany as announced in September, due to the challenging European steel market. ArcelorMittal told S&P Global that it has not put restart dates on any of the assets, as the restart will be dictated by market conditions.

-------

Spain

On September 29, ArcelorMittal idled Blast Furnace A at its 4.5 million tonne per year Gijon plant in Spain, after 1 September announcement of closure due to strong competition from imports and weak demand.

The move follows the steelmaker delaying the restart of its 2 million tonne per year electric-arc furnace at Sestao, Spain, after concluding maintenance in August.

-----------

Germany

At the beginning of September, ArcelorMittal also said it would shut down one of two blast furnaces at its Bremen flat steel plant in Germany at the end of September. The two BFs at Bremen have a combined capacity of 3.8 million tonnes per year.

ArcelorMittal will also close the 600,000 tonnes per year direct reduction plant at its Hamburg long steel plant in Q3 of 2022.

--------

Poland

The company’s 2.2 million tonne No 3 blast furnace in Poland will also be idled sometime in the first week to 10 days of October, as per earlier announcement

It permanently shut the blast furnace at its Krakow mill in 2020.

--------

France

In France, ArcelorMittal has stopped production at its BF3 since September 19, with relining started and due to last six to seven weeks

Canada Drops AD Duty on Fabricated Steel Components

Strategic Research Institute

Related Stories