Luxembourg-based steel giant ArcelorMittal has decided to idle another two blast furnaces out of the 25 which it operates in Europe, at Dunkirk, France and Gijon, Spain, according to media reports. The halts have been decided in order to reline the furnaces over a 100-day period spanning the third quarter.
The planned temporary shutdown of the two furnaces is expected to remove about 700,000 metric tons of crude steel production capacity from the market in the third quarter compared with the second quarter. Alongside its other idled European furnaces, ArcelorMittal's crude steel production capacity is expected to indicate a shortfall of 1.6 million metric tons in the third quarter this year compared with the same quarter last year.