Steel giant ArcelorMittal is struggling with overcapacity in Europe and therefore seems to want to say goodbye to 19,500 employees with a temporary appointment. The company is in talks with trade unions about the impending intervention. That says CEO Lakshmi Mittal in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Due to the American taxes on steel and aluminum, much more steel, and especially cheap steel from Asia, is sold on the relatively open European market. According to Mittal, there is clearly abundance. According to him, since 2017 steel imports to countries within the European Union have increased by 30 to 40 percent. In addition, the demand for steel is declining.

Arcelor recently announced a reduction in its production in Europe. Factories in the Polish city of Krakow, the French Dunkirk and the German Eisenhüttenstadt are already making less steel. Later this year, a factory in Bremen in Germany will also produce less if a planned blast furnace repair is extended. Also at a factory in Asturias, Spain, production was reduced and a blast furnace will be repaired at the end of this year. As a result, the factory will close for longer than previously planned.