en.Wedoany.com Reported - Recently, the global steel industry has witnessed multiple incidents of shutdowns and production cuts. In West Asia, Iran's largest steel producer, Mobarakeh Steel Company, was attacked on the afternoon of March 27, 2026. Its production units and core facilities in Isfahan Province were severely damaged, and the company announced a complete production halt. Almost simultaneously, Khuzestan Steel Company was also struck, instructing employees to remain on standby at home. The combined crude steel capacity of the two enterprises accounts for approximately 27% of Iran's national total, with actual output nearing half. Mobarakeh contributes over 60% of flat steel exports, while Khuzestan accounts for over 40% of billet and long steel exports. Following the attacks, Iran's flat steel exports have essentially stalled, and billet and long steel exports have been halved, with monthly steel export volumes plummeting from 900,000 tons to 35%~45% of the original level.
In Europe, Thyssenkrupp decided to temporarily shut down its Isbergues electrical steel plant in France from June to September. The company had previously temporarily closed its Gelsenkirchen plant in Germany, and since January 2026, the Isbergues plant in France has been operating at 50% capacity. Thyssenkrupp's electrical steel company is one of only two remaining grain-oriented electrical steel producers in Europe. Sweden's LKAB announced that, due to changes in geomechanical conditions, it will temporarily shut down the Kiruna KK3 pelletizing plant from mid-April to November 2026, a period of about 7 months, resulting in a reduction of approximately 2 million tons in pellet shipments for 2026. Brazilian mining company Vale suspended production at its Oman pelletizing plant in mid-March to carry out annual planned maintenance, while also suspending construction work at the Sohar concentrator plant, with operations expected to resume by the end of the third quarter. Spain's Sidenor permanently shut down two bar rolling lines at a rolling mill in the Basque Country, transferring production to another plant in Cantabria.
In Asia, South Korea's Hyundai Steel partially shut down the rebar production line at its Incheon plant starting March 2, involving a 90-ton electric arc furnace and a small rolling mill, affecting an annual capacity of 750,000 tons. The plant's annual rebar capacity is 1.6 million tons, meaning nearly half of its capacity is suspended. Japan's JFE Steel plans to suspend the pickling line at its East Japan Works (Keihin) by the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, after which production will be consolidated at the Chiba and West Japan Works. Indonesia's Krakatau Osaka Steel (a joint venture between Japan's Osaka Steel and an Indonesian state-owned steel enterprise) will cease production on April 30, 2026, and suspend shipments on May 30, completely exiting the Indonesian steel market. Small and medium-sized Indian steel enterprises, affected by the disruption of LNG transportation due to geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, are considering production cuts; a director of Triveni Steel Industries stated they are considering a 50% production cut and may shut down completely if supplies do not improve.
In the United States, Cleveland-Cliffs abandoned its plan to replace the blast furnace at its Middletown plant with a hydrogen-based direct reduced iron facility, opting instead to refurbish the blast furnace. ArcelorMittal Canada completed the shutdown of the No. 3 coke oven at Hamilton on April 13. ArcelorMittal's Hunedoara steel plant in Romania was sold to the local UMB Group for 12.5 million euros; the plant had been permanently shut down since September 2025. The Zenica new steel plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina temporarily halted all steel production starting April 22, with the sinter plant and blast furnace shut down first. Iran announced on April 27 the suspension of billet and steel plate exports until May 30.
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