ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, was forced to temporarily halt production at three Luxembourg steel mills on March 20 because it was short on manpower, according to a company statement.
As COVID-19 spreads across Europe, many of the company’s subcontractors and industrial workers have requested self-isolation, which has reduced available manpower to below the critical minimum to safely run operations.
The three mills—where operations will be suspended for at least a week—are located in Differdange, Rodange, and Belval. It is not clear if the company’s other operations in the country will be affected.
ArcelorMittal, which produced 89.8mn mt of crude steel globally last year, also announced output reductions and suspensions at facilities in Spain and Italy, and it has postponed relaunching three blast furnaces in Poland.
Suspending production at the Differdange and Esch-Belval electric arc furnaces will reduce the company’s ferrous scrap consumption by 6,000-7,000mt a day compared to running at full capacity.
ArcelorMittal’s affected facilities in Luxembourg are:
Differdange, Luxembourg
1.35mn mt per year electric arc furnace and one continuous caster
One rolling mill (Grey Mill) producing heavy beams (including Jumbo sections) and sheet piles (740,000mt annual capacity)
Esch-Belval, Luxembourg
1mn mt per year electric arc furnace and one continuous caster
Two rolling mills producing sheetpiles (600,000mt annual capacity) and medium section mill (900,000mt annual capacity)
Rodange, Luxembourg
350,000mt per year rolling capacity (Mill A)
Three rolling strands producing rails, special profiles, and merchant bar