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Try the Free AI Search EngineFrench Steel Market Faces Production Declines Amid Uncertainty: ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer Restart Delayed
France’s steel sector is facing headwinds due to production cuts and market uncertainties. The situation is further complicated by a temporary production halt at ArcelorMittal’s Fos-sur-Mer plant, referenced in “ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer plans to resume production in early December“, impacting overall supply. This production decline is also noted in “France cut steel production by 20.8% y/y in September” but at this point no direct relationship can be established between the fire and the production numbers. “European factories are delaying roll production due to uncertainty” highlights the broader market anxiety, while “French steel prices stagnate amid uncertainty, competition” underscores the challenges faced by domestic producers.
Overall, the mean steel plant activity in France has shown a declining trend, reaching 25.0% in October 2025, the lowest level in the observed period.
The Riva Alpa Gargenville steel plant, an EAF-based producer with a 700,000-ton crude steel capacity, has consistently operated above the national mean in May 2025 (36.0%). However, activity dropped to 24.0% in October 2025. No direct connection to the provided news articles can be established to explain this decline.
The Riva Iton Seine Bonnieres Sur Seine steel plant, also an EAF-based producer (550,000 tons capacity), has shown a relatively stable activity level, fluctuating between 33.0% and 37.0% throughout the observed period. This plant’s activity has remained consistently above the national mean. No direct connection to the provided news articles can be established to explain the stable levels.
ArcelorMittal Méditerranée Fos-sur-Mer steel plant, an integrated BF-BOF producer with a 4 million-ton crude steel capacity, saw activity fluctuate. In October it reached 36.0%. “ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer plans to resume production in early December” directly explains the plant’s recent operational issues due to an incident on October 8th, which led to a shutdown of the blast furnace and steelmaking shop. However, the satellite data for October 2025 does not fully reflect this shutdown, and no direct relationship between the news article and the activity level can be established at this point.
The planned restart of production at the ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer plant in early December is critical for stabilizing the French steel market. Based on the news article, the outage is impacting supply. Therefore, steel buyers should proactively secure alternative slab sources, potentially increasing reliance on imports or other European ArcelorMittal facilities, as suggested in “ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer plans to resume production in early December“. Buyers focused on long steel products should monitor competitive pressures, as described in “French steel prices stagnate amid uncertainty, competition“, and consider diversifying suppliers, particularly given the uncertainty highlighted in “European factories are delaying roll production due to uncertainty“.