ArcelorMittal to idle Dunkirk blast furnace

Leading European steelmaker ArcelorMittal is idling a 1.2mn t/yr blast furnace at its Dunkirk site in France because of weak apparent demand, market sources told Argus.

The producer has already idled a blast furnace at its Eisenhuttenstadt site in Germany, though the company has downplayed this as routine maintenance. The furnace was scheduled to come back online early next month, but this may be delayed given the market unrest.

Dunkirk has three furnaces with production capacity of about 7mn t/yr.

An executive at a north European mill said mills have "no alternative" with exports not an option ⁠— given weakening global prices and high costs ⁠— so more expensive units will be idled.

German producer Salzgitter was meant to be restarting its smaller blast furnace C, with capacity of 600,000 t/yr, but has also postponed this to later in the year as it has sufficient slab stocks.

The European market has been under pressure in recent months, after the Ukrainian crisis triggered a wave of panic buying without any change in real demand, leading to a large overstock.

Argus' daily northwest EU HRC index was €886.25/t on 17 June, down €525.50/t from its peak of €1,411.75/t reached on 24 March.

By Colin Richardson