By Julia Bolotova – Thursday 28 October

ArcelorMittal has moved forward scheduled maintenance of its galvanizing lines at its Florange site in northeastern France due to reduced demand from the automotive industry, a company representative told Fastmarkets.

The company revealed the decision earlier this week, citing in part, the decreased demand from the automotive industry due to an ongoing global semiconductor shortage.

The maintenance and servicing work will result in some temporary slowing in its production of hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) at the site, which primarily serves the automotive industry.

Market sources have reported that mills supplying the automotive sector have booked 20-30% less steel than expected.

Other consumers of HDG, namely in the packaging and white goods industries, have still been performing quite well, however, so “any impact on production volumes is likely to be minimal,” an ArcelorMittal spokesperson said.

The producer did not specify a timeline for the maintenance works.

Trade union sources, however, said that the first line, Galsa 1, will be halted from October 28 until November 7, and that the second line, Galsa 2, will be halted from November 8 to 15 and again from November 18 to 22.

Galsa 1 can produce about 500,000 tonnes per year of HDG, and the annual full capacity of Galsa 2 is around 800,000 tonnes of HDG per year, Fastmarkets’ research shows.

(MetalBulletin, 28 Oct, 2021)