Europe’s largest steelmaker announced plans to eliminate approximately 600 jobs at ArcelorMittal France North sites, notably Dunkirk, Florange, Basse-Indre, Mardyck, Mouzon, Desvres and Montataire.
The number of affected jobs, however, is not final and might change.
“At this stage though, it is too early to quantify the number of people who might be affected,” ArcelorMittal said.
The measures are necessary “to adapt [the company’s] activity to the new market context and ensure its future competitiveness,” ArcelorMittal said.
The company deemed market conditions in the European steel market as a major driver behind the decision, Fastmarkets understands.
“As the European steel industry is facing a crisis marked by a 20% drop in demand over five years and a sharp rise in imports, which now account for 30% of the market, ArcelorMittal France North must continuously review its efficiency and competitiveness,” the statement reads.
Affected facilities
ArcelorMittal did not announce any immediate plans to cut production at affected sites when contacted by Fastmarkets on April 24.
There are three BFs at the Dunkirk site with combined capacity for about 6.9 million tonnes per year of pig iron. Only BFs 3 and 4 have been operational recently, however. BF2, with capacity for 1.4 million tpy of pig iron, has been idled since June 2022, Fastmarkets understands. The site can produce 4.6 million tpy of hot-rolled coil.
The Florange site can produce up to 2.8 million tonnes of flat steel products a year, including hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanized coil and tinplate.
The Madryk site is equipped with pickling and cold-rolling mill and two galvanizing lines. Estimated yearly output at the site is over 3 million tonnes of flat steel products.
The Desvers site can produce around 400,000 tonnes of galvanized coil per year.
The Basse-Indre site produces tinned and electrolytic chromium steel coils and sheets.
The Montataire site has three galvanizing lines and one organic coating line, with a total capacity of over 1 million tonnes of coated coil per year.
And Mouzon site has two lines to produce corrosion resistant flat steel products.
European steel sector struggles
The European steel sector has been facing rising production costs, increased pressure from low-cost imports from Asia and the ongoing deterioration of the steel demand-supply balance in Europe, sources told Fastmarkets.
ArcelorMittal is not the only one European steel producer who has been planning job cuts recently.
In April 2025, Tata Steel Netherlands announced plans to eliminate 1,600 jobs, Fastmarkets reported.
In November 2024, Germany’s largest steelmaker, Thyssenkrupp, announced plans to reduce its steel output and cut around 11,000 jobs to adapt to the fundamental changes taking place across the European steel market.
The EU steel industry reduced its capacity by 9 million tonnes per year in 2024, while also announcing 18,000 job cuts, according to European steel association Eurofer.
Crude steel production across Europe amounted to 136.30 million tonnes in 2022, down from 152.60 million tonnes in 2021, according to data from worldsteel. The decline was due to massive output cuts that were implemented by European mills in the third and fourth quarters of 2022 amid deteriorating demand and falling steel prices.
Steel output rebounded slightly to 129.5 million tonnes in 2024, compared with 126.3 million tonnes in 2023, according to worldsteel. But the total volume was still below the 159.4 million tonnes recorded pre-Covid in 2019.
Apparent steel consumption in the EU amounted to 127 million tonnes in 2024, down by 2.3% from 130 million tonnes in 2023 and lower than during the 2020 pandemic year, when it stood at 129 million tonnes, data from the European steel association Eurofer shows.
Real steel consumption shrunk by 3.8% in 2024 to around 132.7 million tonnes, from around 138 million tonnes in 2023.
While steel consumption in the EU decreased, the share of steel imports in the European market has been rising, crowding out local supply, sources noted.
Carbon steel imports to the EU in 2024 totaled 26.36 million tonnes, up by 6.4% compared with 24.78 million tonnes in 2023, Eurofer data showed.
In March this year, the European Commission presented a Steel and Metals Action Plan to support the struggling industry, but it remains to be seen how the plan will be implemented and what results it will bring.
One of the plan’s pillars is tailoring trade policies to protect struggling European market from unfair imports.
On April 1, the EU Commission introduced new, tighter, steel safeguard measures to support the domestic steel sector.
And on April 7 the EU imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of hot-rolled coil from Egypt, Vietnam and Japan.
Europe’s steel sector remains at the heart of many regional economies, with approximately 500 production sites across 22 EU member states.
According to EU data, the European steel sector contributes around €80 billion to the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) and supports more than 2.5 million jobs.
