The two Florange, France-based blast furnaces owned by global steel giant ArcelorMittal will remain idle in the second quarter of the current year, according to local media sources. ArcelorMittal halted one furnace at Florange last July and the other last October as part of a wave of production cuts in Europe in response to ailing demand for steel.
Union officials fear the closure could be prolonged until the end of the year. "Management told us there is a strong probability that the site will remain at a halt in the third and fourth quarters, in other words until the end of the year," as one union official told Reuters.
The idling of production at Florange has led to temporary layoffs of 2,600 out of some 5,000 employees at the site.