ArcelorMittal will close two of its blast furnaces in Europe, in Bremen (northwest Germany) and Asturias (north Spain). In fact, the second largest steel company in the world has decided to reduce its activity to face the fall in demand and the increase in energy prices.
In Germany, the company will stop two installations due to “energy prices that have risen exorbitantly”, affecting “strongly” the competitiveness of steel production, as explained by the group in a press release published this Friday.
The steelmaker is concerned that in Germany “not all facilities can operate profitably anymore.” The slowdown in the automobile industry, the large regular customer of the steel industry, stands out in particular.
Therefore, one of the two blast furnaces at the flat steel production site in Bremen will be closed “from the end of September until further notice.”
High gas and electricity costs.
“The high costs of gas and electricity weigh heavily on our competitiveness,” explained Reiner Blaschek, head of ArcelorMittal Germany, also responsible for the Bremen plant. He also denounced the new gas tax that will come into force on October 1 in Germany, aimed at preventing the bankruptcy of gas importers and distributors.
In addition, “at the long steelworks in Hamburg, where ArcelorMittal produces wire rod”, a facility will also be closed from the fourth quarter. “The operation of the plant has already been reduced by around 80%,” said site manager Uwe Braun. There, as in Bremen, the already existing partial unemployment measures will have to be extended.
In Spain, it is the Asturias plant, near Gijón, that will see one of its blast furnaces temporarily closed at the end of September.
Slowdown in activity in Dunkirk
In France there are no plans to close blast furnaces but to slow down activity in Dunkirk (north). Two blast furnaces are already closed there, one for maintenance and the other since July as part of the decarbonization of the site.
At the Dunkerque site, there too, saving measures will be implemented with “reduction in the use of temporary workers, early leave, possibility of partial activity depending on the sectors of the factories.”
ArcelorMittal had 16 blast furnaces in Europe at the end of 2021.
Source: BFM TV
