ArcelorMittal plans to restart blast furnace No.3 — which has a capacity of 3 million mt/year of crude steel — at some point in August, but the precise date has not been decided, the spokesman said.

Dunkerque has three blast furnaces with combined annual capacity of 7 million mt, but only one is operational at the moment. The two largest blast furnaces, which have matching annual capacities, were temporarily shuttered in March and April due to the slump in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The steel market is gradually recovering in Europe, but demand in the developed economies is expected to decline by 17.1% year on year in 2020, according to the World Steel association.

After the closure of the hot-end operations at Florange in 2012, only Dunkerque and Fos-sur-Mer in southern France produce crude steel via blast furnaces in France. The Fos-sur-Mer works can produce 4 million mt/year of steel and is one of France's largest producers of flat steel, of which 80% is produced for the automotive sector.

ArcelorMittal idled No. 1 blast furnace at Fos-sur-Mer on March 23 due to the pandemic. The site's No. 2 blast furnace was supposed to be idled in June, but this was postponed by a month.

The spokesman declined to comment on this issue and it is unclear yet if and when will be idled.

Unions at Fos could not be reached for comment.