ArcelorMittal's Fos-sur-Mer plant temporarily halts steel shop after fire

ArcelorMittal's site in Fos-sur-Mer, southern France, has shut its steel shop following a large fire Oct. 8, and initially plans to keep it closed for one month while repairs are carried out, a company spokesperson told S&P Global Energy.

"The shutdown may be adjusted depending on the progress of repair work," the spokesperson said late Oct. 10. "Operations to secure and shut down the blast furnace are underway, and its stoppage is planned for one month as well."

Other production facilities will continue to operate continuously or will alternate between periods of operation and shutdown, depending on operational requirements and scheduled maintenance.

Blast furnace no. 2 at Fos-sur-Mer has a capacity of around 2 million mt/year of crude steel. It has been the only blast furnace operating at the site since November 2023.

At the end of June, ArcelorMittal started a Eur53 million investment to refurbish BF1, which is expected to replace BF2 by the first half of 2026.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Initial findings indicate that the product loaded onto the conveyor belts may have ignited. No workers were injured during the incident.

Market reaction

While some European flat steel market participants said the closure could result in a price increase, others said the market implications would be limited.

A trader said that a one-month downtime could create a shortfall of 200,000-300,000 metric tons worth of material. "Short-term, this tightens EU flat steel supply—[hot-rolled coil/cold-rolled coil] especially."

The trader added, "Fos is a big player for auto and construction coils, and with inventories already lean, spot prices could jump 5%-10% in Northwest Europe, pushing HRC toward Eur600-650/mt [ex-works]."

A service center source adopted a more cautious stance on price direction. The fire "will help price increases, but I don't know, as they were not operating at full capacity," the source said.

Another trader said some orders were potentially being canceled. "I heard some ongoing orders are even being canceled, and the problems could last up to three months," he said. This, however, has not been confirmed.

One mill source felt the impact would only affect sentiment rather than actually cause any concern about market-supply levels.

The domestic North European hot-rolled coil market strengthened by the close of the week ended Oct. 10 at Eur575/mt EXW Ruhr, up Eur5 day over day. In Southern Europe, the market was stable day over day at Eur555/mt EXW Italy, as buyers anticipate impending higher mill offers in response to the EU's safeguard proposal.

Since January, both domestic HRC prices in Northern and Southern Europe have risen by Eur15, but have dropped by Eur80 and Eur75, respectively, from their peak in April 2025.