ArcelorMittal Spain shuts Avilés pickling line as part of €18 million upgrade
ArcelorMittal Spain has shut down the pickling line at its Avilés plant as part of an €18 million modernization program, according to media reports.
The stoppage comes amid broader operational challenges across the company’s Asturias facilities, including ongoing issues restarting blast furnace “B” in Gijón and planned maintenance work on sinter plant “A”.
The Avilés pickling line, which removes oxide scale from hot rolled steel using diluted hydrochloric acid, will remain offline for three weeks. The €18 million upgrade includes replacing the hydrochloric acid storage tanks that feed the process, which treats coils coming out of the hot strip mill.
Ongoing failure of blast furnace “B” causing serious disruption
This modernization forms part of a broader €168 million investment package announced earlier this year for ArcelorMittal’s facilities in Avilés, Gijón, Sagunto, Etxabarri and Lesaka. A significant share of the total investment is earmarked for the hybrid electric arc furnace project in Gijón, while the Avilés pickling line revamp represents a key component of ongoing downstream improvements.
The shutdown will have immediate downstream effects, as the pickling line supplies strip to the tandem mill, temper mill and tinplate lines in Avilés.
ArcelorMittal has been unable to restart blast furnace “B” in Gijón for two months, following a maintenance shutdown during which the unit suffered several fires. Three attempts to restart the furnace using the oxy-lance method, injecting oxygen and propane, have failed due to a large mass of solidified iron inside the vessel.
As a result, the plant is facing an acute shortage of hot metal. With only blast furnace “A” operational, production levels are insufficient to supply all rolling and steelmaking units.
Hot metal shortages force prioritization and interruptions
Due to limited hot metal availability, ArcelorMittal is prioritizing hot strip production for the automotive sector, to avoid penalties, and rail manufacturing, which currently has strong order volumes.
Other downstream facilities are experiencing intermittent stoppages. The company informed employees that the shutdown of the Gijón heavy plate mill would be extended due to a lack of slabs available for rolling.
The Gijón plate mill sources its slabs from the Avilés melt shop, which is currently running at 60 percent of capacity because of the shortage of hot metal. Most of its limited output is being directed to the Avilés hot strip mill.
Ilva commissioners to seek €5 billion in damages from ArcelorMittal
The special commissioners of the former Ilva plants, now Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI), located in Taranto in southern Italy, plan to launch legal action against ArcelorMittal to obtain €5 billion in damages. The move was announced by Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, who referred to the damage suffered by the steel group during the years of management by the Franco-Indian giant.
According to the minister, the requested amount reflects the losses generated by the deterioration of the facilities, the lack of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance, and the loss of ETS quotas accumulated in previous years. The lawsuit is expected to be filed between December 15 and December 18, with the Morselli management period at the centre of the complaint. Minister Urso reiterated that there is no plan to close the Taranto steelmaking hub. On the contrary, almost one year ago the commissioners launched an emergency maintenance program with the aim of delivering safe and operational plants to a future buyer by March, ensuring a minimum production capacity of 4 million mt of steel per year.
In parallel, the search for a new private investor continues. The competitive procedure, launched after ADI was brought under state control at the beginning of 2024, has attracted interest from several players, but so far only the consortium led by Baku Steel with Azerbaijan Investment Company and India’s Jindal Steel has expressed willingness to acquire the entire assets. Since 2022, the state has already provided more than €2 billion in loans, subsidies and emergency support measures to keep production running.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the Italian government has recently announced new funds to secure the former Ilva’s operations, while confirming the continuation of the current rules on access to short-time work schemes and the ongoing negotiations with potential buyers. In another key step, talks on the decarbonization plan have led to the establishment of an inter-institutional technical committee tasked with assessing gas supply options and the feasibility of the four DRI plants planned for the future pre-reduced iron hub in Taranto, with the still-open issue of a possible floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU).
The industrial side of the story is closely linked to the environmental side. Brussels has sent Italy another letter of formal notice for violations related to emissions from the Taranto site, keeping open an infringement procedure that has been under way for more than ten years and that requires a rapid shift towards lower-impact technologies. In this context, low-carbon transition projects are gaining weight, including initiatives related to DRI production and pilot schemes for the use of green hydrogen in steelmaking.
The outcome of the lawsuit against ArcelorMittal and the choice of a new investor will be decisive for the relaunch of ADI. While the government aims to close the international tender in the coming months, the outlook for the Taranto hub remains uncertain, amid pressure from EU institutions, trade union demands for stronger employment guarantees and the need to finance a decarbonization path that is expected to require total investments of more than €5 billion.
ArcelorMittal Poland permanently shuts down production at Huta Królewska
ArcelorMittal Poland has announced that production at the Huta Królewska steelworks in Chorzów will be permanently shut down, with all installations scheduled to come offline by the end of December this year. The company is preparing solutions to support the 270 employees currently working at the site, prioritizing job transfers within the group.
According to Marek Kempa, managing director of the long products division, the plant accounts for less than one percent of ArcelorMittal Poland’s total output. He noted that the age of the installations makes ensuring safe operations increasingly difficult, requiring major capital expenditure that cannot be justified in the current European steel market environment.
Before reaching this decision, the company made extensive efforts to sustain operations at Huta Królewska. Over recent years, ArcelorMittal Poland invested PLN 30 million ($8.21 million) in projects designed to expand the product range and improve quality. These included a new scale breaker, rolling stand modernization, a rail marking machine, and a new measurement and control block for rail production. The company also sought a strategic investor and explored joint venture options, though without success.
“This was a very difficult decision, given the long tradition and history of Huta Królewska,” said Wojciech Koszuta, president of the management board and CEO of ArcelorMittal Poland. He emphasized the company’s appreciation for the employees’ dedication and confirmed that everyone wishing to remain within the ArcelorMittal Poland structure will be offered opportunities.
ArcelorMittal halts Spain steel powder project
ArcelorMittal Powders, the steelmaker’s unit producing high-quality steel powders for multiple additive manufacturing technologies, tells Kallanish it is halting activity.
“The company, which began operations in November 2023, has stopped its activities after the deadlines for the start of production were not met for technical reasons,” ArcelorMittal states.
The company will assess the impact of the decision taken with the representation of the 15 employees working at the new industrial plant in Avilés, Spain.
In the first week of November, ArcelorMittal Powders obtained environmental approval for the new industrial plant. The project involved installing an EAF plant and a high-pressure gas atomiser, which was to produce powders from steel scrap and use renewable energy. It was to have a large production capacity for batches of 200kg to 3 tonnes and an initial annual capacity of 1,800 tonnes/year.
ArcelorMittal’s so-called AdamIQ brand included 316L, 430L and 17-4PH stainless steel, tool steels (H11, H13, M300) and low alloy steels. Products were planned to be supplied to the aerospace, military, automotive, medical, and energy sectors.
Todor Kirkov Bulgaria
ArcelorMittal calls for immediate enforcement of EU’s new tariff quota
ArcelorMittal has reiterated its call for the urgent implementation of the new tariff quota announced by the European Commission in October 2025.
The company emphasized that the regulation is critical for the survival of the European steel industry and the long-term security of the manufacturing sector. Record levels of steel imports into Europe are putting significant pressure on EU steel producers.
With the implementation of the new tariff quota, ArcelorMittal aims to assure producers and distributors of uninterrupted steel supply. The company is preparing to increase production at its facilities across Europe and anticipates demand shifts that the tariff quota regulation may create. Through these measures, ArcelorMittal will be able to respond swiftly to customer demand, maintain supply chain stability, and simultaneously contribute to employment and economic value in Europe.
Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe, acknowledged that some steel users have concerns about the new trade tool’s potential effects, such as supply shortages, price volatility, and access to specialized products. Van Poelvoorde emphasized that steel produced in Europe is sufficient to meet demand, stating, “We are ready to increase production accordingly.”
ArcelorMittal Belgium to cut emissions with new steam-powered energy system at Ghent
ArcelorMittal Belgium has announced that it has entered into cooperation with engineering company Luminus Solutions, wastewater treatment company Aquafin, and renewable-energy investor FINEG to develop new sustainable steam-powered energy infrastructure at its Ghent plant.
Under the project, Aquafin is constructing a large-scale facility to process sewage sludge from approximately 4 million residents in the region. The process produces high-pressure steam that will be used in a newly built 1.3 MW steam turbine operated by Luminus Solutions.
Turning waste steam into industrial heat and green power
The turbine will convert the high-pressure steam into low-pressure steam for steel production and into green electricity which will be delivered back to Aquafin. ArcelorMittal will integrate the low-pressure steam into its steelmaking operations, cutting energy use and reducing carbon emissions.
The project is valued at more than €12 million and is fully financed by FINEG through its subsidiary FINARMIT. Under the project milestones, Aquafin will begin supplying high-pressure steam in August 2026 and the steam turbine system must be fully operational by the end of 2026. From 2027, Aquafin will supply low-pressure steam to ArcelorMittal Belgium.
ArcelorMittal Belgium emphasized that using steam in steel production helps replace fossil fuels and strengthens its broader strategy for reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
ArcelorMittal clarifies status of EU decarbonisations
Leading steelmaker ArcelorMittal has clarified the status of its decarbonisation projects in communications surrounding its third quarter earnings, released on 6 November, aligning the conditions for progress with those capitalised upon greenfield low-carbon steelmaking initiatives.
In its earnings release, ArcelorMittal lauded the European Commission’s proposal to strengthen the EU’s steel trade defences once – or potentially before – the existing safeguards lapse at the end of June 2026, seeing the measures as key to giving its European operations “the foundation […] to earn its cost of capital.”
Despite perceiving an improved outlook for steel market conditions to support its European operations, ArcelorMittal representatives were careful to limit expectations of continuations to its suspended decarbonisation plans across Europe, most prominently in Germany, Belgium, and France. The steelmaker suggested in its earnings call that said projects would be assessed on their own merits and progressed gradually, even if Q1 2026 brought strong market recovery on the continent.
ArcelorMittal’s earnings release said that while regulatory progress to restrict import accessibility was encouraging, further developments were needed to support specific decarbonisation investment cases across its operations.
“Of critical importance is visibility of industry access to competitive energy,” the steelmaker said. “At that point, the company will be able to review its investment priorities in its Europe segment.”
The company’s currently active decarbonisation renovations at its Spanish operations were described as “on track”. ArcelorMittal is constructing a new 1.1 mt electric-arc furnace (EAF) in Gijon, and is expanding its EAF capacity in Sestao to 1.6 mt, as described by McCloskey’s recently updated Green Steel Projects Database.
Conditionality on affordable energy aligns with greenfield low-carbon steelmaking projects in Europe such as Hydnum, Blastr, and Stegra, all of which are based in locations with access to competitive renewable energy sources in Spain and the Nordics.
Access to affordable renewables is particularly important for low-carbon EAF projects due to their relatively high electricity consumption, especially considering the removal of the ‘fuel/electricity exchangeability principle’ (FEP) from the calculation of ETS free allowances benchmarking from 2026 for EAF production processes. This will potentially improve EAF production competitiveness by eliminating current free allowance reductions for indirect emissions from electricity consumption within the ETS framework.
While some of McCloskey’s sources have questioned the fundamental necessity of cheap electricity for blast furnace (BF) producers’ decarbonisation investments given their relatively low exposure to energy prices on incumbent process routes, and benefits from the sale of electricity produced from captured off-gases, the issue has some nuance.
Blast furnace producers do currently recycle off-gases, but this is not only purposed for electricity generation and sale, but also recycled to heat rolling lines in optimising energy requirements downstream. Renovating to production via EAF would remove this optimisation route and impose additional energy requirements when heating rolling lines, as well as expose steelmakers to additional downstream ETS costs from ‘fall-back’ heat benchmarking.
When asked whether lower production during ETS reference periods could raise costs due to fewer free allowances, ArcelorMittal said it did not expect additional ETS exposure beyond the roughly 20% of emissions EU steelmakers already pay for, or the planned phase-out of free allocations from 2026.
European steelmakers – largely following the direct-reduced iron (DRI) to EAF decarbonisation route – must also convince financiers of the potential realisation of their investments on future, rather than present dynamics, making further relevant the “visibility of industry access to competitive energy,” as described by ArcelorMittal.
ArcelorMittal posts USD 1.5 billion EBITDA in Q3
The company achieved an EBITDA margin of USD 111 per tonne, with a net income of USD 0.4 billion and an adjusted net income of USD 0.5 billion (EPS USD 0.62). ArcelorMittal said performance continued to reflect the benefits of asset optimization, regional diversification, and strategic growth investments, including record iron ore production and shipments from Liberia.
Net debt stood at USD 9.1 billion at the end of September, compared to USD 8.3 billion at the end of June, mainly due to working capital and M&A investments. The company expects a strong free cash flow rebound in Q4 2025 as working capital unwinds, supported by a robust liquidity position of USD 11.2 billion.
CEO Aditya Mittal stated, “We delivered resilient results in what is typically a seasonally weak quarter. The European Commission’s proposed trade measures, once enacted, will support the region’s steel sector in improving capacity utilization and profitability. We remain focused on executing our investment plans and positioning the business for long-term value creation.”
ArcelorMittal highlighted that its strategic growth and M&A initiatives are expected to add around USD 2.1 billion to future EBITDA capacity, with USD 0.7 billion targeted for 2025 and USD 0.8 billion for 2026. The company continues to invest in low-carbon and value-added steel markets as part of its transition strategy.
For shareholders, the company confirmed its base dividend of USD 0.55 per share, paid in two installments, and reiterated its policy to return at least 50% of post-dividend annual free cash flow through dividends and share buybacks. So far in 2025, ArcelorMittal has repurchased 8.8 million shares for USD 262 million, with plans to cancel most of its 92.3 million treasury shares before year-end.
ArcelorMittal completes sale of Bosnian steel mill
ArcelorMittal completed the sale of its steel making operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Bosnia-based Pavgord Group on 30 October for an undisclosed sum, the steelmaker said.
The sale was originally announced in June 2025. Operations involved include ArcelorMittal Zenica, an integrated steel mill and ArcelorMittal Prijedor, an iron ore mining business.
ArcelorMittal Zenica is a blast furnace (BF)-based long steel producer with an annual capacity of almost 1 mt, making it the largest producer in the Balkans. The mill employs over 2,000 workers.
ArcelorMittal’s third quarter 2025 earnings call is scheduled for 6 November.
Alfie Shaw Senior Research Analyst
ArcelorMittal plans restart at Fos-sur-Mer in December after site incident
Following the October 8 fire incident at its Fos-sur-Mer facility in France, ArcelorMittal has confirmed that the immediate priority remains securing site operations, which is expected to be completed by the end of the week.
The company stated that it is working closely with local authorities and internal teams to ensure all safety and environmental protocols are met before any production activities resume.
Due to the incident, several operations have been temporarily modified. The blast furnace and steelworks remain shut down, while the urban chain has extended its scheduled maintenance shutdown. In the meantime, the coking plant continues operations using its own gas and the belt train, finishing, and logistics departments remain active to process and ship existing inventory.
ArcelorMittal’s site teams are currently dismantling and rebuilding damaged infrastructure. Based on current analysis and material supply timelines, the company aims to partially restart the steelworks in early December.
A full return to normal operations is still under review and will depend on repair progress and supply chain stability.
To reduce disruption, some orders have been transferred to other ArcelorMittal plants across Europe, and slabs are being sourced externally to cover end-of-year production needs.