Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister for Economy and Finance was welcomed to our Dunkirk steelworks today by Eric Niedziela, Chairman, ArcelorMittal France, and members of our French executive management team.

The visit was designed to update Mr Le Maire on the decarbonisation plans – which have received funding support from the French government – and progress at our French steelmaking operations.

The plans, first announced in February 2022, are central to our target to reduce the carbon intensity of the steel we produce in Europe by 35 per cent, by 2030. In Dunkirk, where we produce c. five million tonnes of steel a year from two blast furnaces, we intend to build a 2.5 million tonne direct reduced iron furnace and two electric arc furnaces. The new facilities will replace one of the currently operating blast furnaces.

Following successful completion of the pre-FEED (front-end engineering design) stage last year, the project is currently in the FEED stage. Completion of the FEED stage, expected later this year, will determine the industrial layout for the project, the implementation schedule and final budget, and confirm the viability of the project.

ArcelorMittal’s decarbonisation plans in France have also received a boost through a letter of intent signed today with French state-owned energy supplier EDF Energy for the long-term supply of low-carbon electricity to its French steelmaking sites in Dunkirk and Fos-sur-mer.