The Marseille public prosecutor’s office indicted ArcelorMittal for endangering the lives of others, forgery, and environmental damage earlier this week, according to media reports.
The steelmaker has therefore been placed under judicial supervision, subject to a €250,000 ($268,525) deposit and €1.75 million bank guarantee, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, quoted by French media outlets.
ArcelorMittal said in its statement that the company was cooperating fully with the authorities in charge of dealing with complaints filed by residents and environmental associations in relation to the Fos-sur-Mer site.
“ArcelorMittal has always been transparent in its contact with the authorities and has made every effort to ensure that the emissions from the Fos-sur-Mer site comply with the prescribed annual limit values. There was no falsification of data,” the steel manufacturer added.
According to its statement, ArcelorMittal has invested more than €735 million since 2014 to modernize its facilities and reduce emission levels. Thanks to these actions, the company has reduced its air emissions from the Fos-sur-Mer site by 70% compared to 2002.
ArcelorMittal said that it would not comment further on the indictment because the procedure was still ongoing, adding that the presumption of innocence and respect for the secrecy of the investigation should be considered.
The Fos-sur-Mer site has been facing problems with environmental organizations and residents since 2018, when a complaint against the plan was filed, according to media outlets.
ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer has two blast furnaces (BFs) with a total capacity for about 5 million tonnes per year of pig iron, market sources said. The site produces hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil.
ArcelorMittal modernizes its French assets
Earlier in March, ArcelorMittal announced that it planned further modernization of its two production plants in France – Dunkirk and Fos-sur-Mer. Due to the overhaul, one of the BFs at the Dunkirk site will be idled for 90 days in the second quarter of 2025.
Specifically for the Fos-sur-Mer site, the company is planning investment amounting to €18.3 million, which is intended to extend the life of BF1. But the production unit will restart operations no earlier than the first half of 2026, Fastmarkets understands. While BF2 will remain operational.
BF1 at Fos-sur-Mer has been idled since the third quarter of 2023.
Market overview
The stoppage of one BF at the Dunkirk site was expected to put additional pressure on the HRC prices in Europe, industry sources told Fastmarkets.
Supply of domestic material in the region has already been limited by Salzgitter, who announced force majeure on HRC deliveries due to a fire at a hot strip mill late in February.
These circumstances, combined with the limited HRC imports due to the new safeguard measures of the European Commission, have supported a recovery in HRC prices in Northern Europe, industry sources told Fastmarkets.
“Production in Europe is at a quite low level now. There are a lot of problems with domestic mills. Customers often complain about delays with deliveries,” a distributor source based in Germany told Fastmarkets.
The distributor source added that mills were quite firm on their offers, advising customers to go to another mill if they did not like the offered price. “But there are not many other options where to go,” the source said.
Despite some small fluctuations, HRC prices in Northern Europe have been recovering gradually since the beginning of the year, reaching €645.00 per tonne on Wednesday, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe, shows.
But the index averaged €608.04 per tonne in February remaining far below €738.28 per tonne – the average level reached in February 2024.
Fastmarkets’ sources expected that the recovery of the HRC prices would continue, although some were skeptical if the €700-per-tonne level would be reached.
