Steelmaker ArcelorMittal was considering the possibility of restarting rolling operations at its Hundeoara asset in Romania in November, the company press office told Fastmarkets on Wednesday October 15.
The company suspended operations at the mill in early September, citing high electricity costs and increased market pressure from low-priced imports.
Earlier this month, Romanian news agencies cited the president of the Steelworkers’ Union, Mircea Bordean, when reporting that the company would restart its rolling mill from November 1, using steel bloom from its own ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih production asset in Ukraine.
Neither ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih nor the European press office of the company would confirm this information about bloom supply from Ukraine.
“We are exploring different possibilities and have informed our employees about these options, to ensure full transparency,” the company told Fastmarkets on October 15.
“In the meantime, the period of economic unemployment has been extended for another month, to the end of October, while discussions continue and final decisions are taken regarding the plant’s future. It is too early to talk about details because no decision has been taken,” it added.
A source at another European mill, however, said that once the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) comes into force on January 1, 2026, Ukrainian blooms will be “too expensive” considering the cost of CBAM certificates.
According to Fastmarkets’ estimates for semi-finished materials produced via BF/BOF method, the cost will be €88.65 ($103) per tonne.
ArcelorMittal Hundeoara has capacity to produce 800,000 tonnes per year of crude steel by the EAF route and 400,000 tpy of rolled products (sections, beams, channels, angles and round bars). Nevertheless, before the stoppage the mill’s actual production was no more than 200,000 tpy.
