Amidst the debate on its nationalization, ArcelorMittal showcases the fruits of a major investment in the North

Located in Mardyck, near Dunkirk, this new production unit, which cost 500 million euros, represents "the group's largest in Europe for ten years," the group reiterated on Tuesday.

Three initial production lines, currently in the commissioning phase, are expected to begin operating by the end of the year. The group intends to produce more than 150.000 tonnes of this silicon-enriched steel, with its strong magnetic properties, in Mardyck. This steel is intended primarily for the production of motors for electric vehicles, but also for wind and rail applications.

"We have an impetus that has been given in the field of transport, with the ban on the sale of thermal vehicles by 2035 (in the European Union, editor's note). But there is also the field of energy use, and therefore the shift from fossil fuels to electricity" in many other sectors, stressed Hugues Baudin, pilot of the electric steels project, on Tuesday.

This should create 200 jobs at the Mardyck site, which already has 450, according to the group, which sees this significant investment as proof that it "is not disengaging from France", but on the contrary is modernizing its tools and preparing the future of steel production in the country.

Two additional production lines are planned for mid-2027.

The total investment in Mardyck, initially set at 300 million euros in 2022, has been reassessed at 500 million because "we underestimated the complexity of reusing the existing industrial buildings" on site, explained Bruno Ribo, managing director of ArcelorMittal France, on Tuesday.

A similar installation already exists in Lozère, in Saint-Chély-d'Apcher, of which the Mardyck site should be the "sister factory", according to Mr. Ribo.

A 300-meter-long furnace, whose temperature rises to 1.000 degrees, is almost ready to be put into service on the upper floor of a huge, long hall, where several agents are training and preparing for the launch of the production lines.

A cockpit containing about ten screens allows them to control, inspect, check the quality and spot small defects on the reels.

Silence on decarbonization in Dunkirk

This new project in Mardyck, "it was good news at the start. The problem is that it's a construction site that drags on and on. Every month, we're told that it's going to start at the end of the month," laments Ludovic Putter, general secretary of the CGT ArcelorMittal in Mardyck.

"There are people who have been waiting for the start for almost two years. It's a long time for them, and some are throwing in the towel and resigning. This is the service where we have the most resignations, on a line that hasn't started," adds the union representative.

The project is struggling to convince staff representatives, experts and left-wing political representatives, who at the end of November passed a bill in the National Assembly aimed at nationalizing ArcelorMittal France, in the name of defending the French steel industry.

The future of this bill is, however, very uncertain, as it will be difficult for it to be adopted in the Senate, which leans to the right. And the government opposes it, seeing it as "a populist response to a structural problem," according to Economy Minister Roland Lescure.

Demand for steel, historically driven by the automotive and construction sectors, is weakening in Europe. And local production faces enormous competition from Asian, and especially Chinese, production, which is sold at much lower prices.

Despite unprecedented measures announced by Brussels in October to support the competitiveness of the European steel industry, ArcelorMittal has still not confirmed its key project to decarbonize its blast furnaces in Dunkirk.

The group also announced in April the elimination of some 600 positions in France, a figure now reduced to 260 jobs due to anticipated reorganizations and reclassifications.

In early November, a report by experts commissioned by the group's CSEC, contested by the company, judged the future of the steel giant "uncertain" in France, and criticized in particular an underinvestment in its production equipment.