ArcelorMittal is advancing two major industrial projects at its Dunkirk and Mardyck sites in northern France, investing a combined EUR 1.8 bln (USD 2 bln) in lower-carbon steel production and electrical steel capacity.
The projects involve a EUR 1.3 bln (USD 1.45 bln) electric arc furnace (EAF) installation at Dunkirk and a EUR 500 mln (USD 560 mln) investment in electrical steels at Mardyck. The company said the developments are among its largest industrial investments in Europe over the past decade and will support steel decarbonization and the electrification of industrial applications.
At Mardyck, the first three production lines for electrical steels entered operation in March 2026, with around 200 employees currently working at the site. Construction of the second phase, comprising an annealing and pickling line and a reversible rolling mill, is progressing. Equipment installation is nearing completion, with initial tests expected in spring 2027. Once operational, the lines will complete the integrated production route.
Electrical steels are used in electric motors and generators and support the wider shift towards electrification. ArcelorMittal currently produces all its electrical steels in Europe at its French sites in Mardyck and Saint-Chely-d’Apcher.
At Dunkirk, ArcelorMittal is preparing to build a 2 mln ton per year EAF and a ladle metallurgy furnace as part of its lower-carbon steelmaking project. The new route is expected to produce steel with around 0.6 tons of CO2 emissions per ton, approximately one-third of the emissions associated with the blast furnace route. The process will use a mix of recycled steel, hot or direct reduced iron (HBI/DRI) and hot metal.
ArcelorMittal France is the French division of ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s leading steel and mining groups. Its major industrial sites include Dunkirk, Mardyck, Fos-sur-Mer and Saint-Chely-d’Apcher. The division has nominal crude steel production capacity of around 10 mln tons per year, with the integrated Dunkirk plant accounting for a significant share of primary steelmaking capacity. Its three blast furnaces have a combined capacity of approximately 7 mln tons per year.
1 USD / 0.89 EUR