European Steel Giant Shuts Down, What Will Happen Now?
ArcelorMittal plans to idle blast furnace No. 3 at its Dąbrowa Górnicza plant in Poland’s Silesian Voivodeship. The steel industry giant made the initial announcement back in September, citing current and future market factors. “The reason for this decision stems from the extremely difficult and constantly deteriorating market conditions,” ArcelorMittal Poland said on July 24.
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A Big Change for Poland’s Steel Industry
ArcelorMittal Poland stated that work to idle the furnace is now underway. The firm plans to watch market conditions closely to determine the best time to bring it back on stream. The idling would leave only one furnace operating at the site, which is located about 15 kilometers west of the regional center of Katowice.
“In the last three months, we have recorded a significant drop in prices. All these factors have negatively impacted our margins, meaning that the operation of two blast furnaces in these conditions is economically unviable,” the company quoted ArcelorMittal Poland CEO and management board chairman Wojciech Koszuta as saying.
Koszuta also cited high energy prices as well as the cost of acquiring CO2 emission allowances under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme as reasons behind the decision.
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Poland a Significant Part of ArcelorMittal’s Efforts
Information on the Luxembourg-headquartered group’s website shows that besides rolling long products, which include merchant bar, sections, special sections and rails and hot rolled coil.
Offers on hot rolled coil prices in northern Europe were €530-540 ($610-625) per metric ton EXW in the week of July 21, down from €540-550 ($625-635) in late June. Transactions on imports were about €490 ($565) per metric ton CFR European ports.
Besides lower activity in Europe’s summer, market sources believed that mills were attempting to entice buyers with lower prices before the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism comes into effect. The current date for CBAM implementation is January 1, 2026, and steel industry anxiety levels remain high.
ArcelorMittal noted that imports into Poland comprise up to 80% of apparent total consumption, while for flat rolled products they cover 95%. Imports are coming from Ukraine and Serbia as well as Indonesia, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.
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