Steel giant ArcelorMittal has announced that it plans to shut down the second blast furnace at the Florange flat steel plant in eastern France in October due to low demand.
It will not be commissioned again until improved demand can support its restart. Although Florange will stop producing melted steel in October, downstream production will continue. It is learned that 500 employees will lose their jobs due to the shutting down of the blast furnace.
Currently, ArcelorMittal is adjusting its capacity in line with demand. Florange has two blast furnaces, with the first one being shut down in the summer. Early this month, it was announced that a 500,000 mt annual capacity blast furnace at ArcelorMittal's Eisenhüttenstadt plant in Germany will be shut down for five months