ArcelorMittal Says Europe's Higher Steel Tariffs Are Boosting Profits — Update

By Joshua Kirby

ArcelorMittal said the European steel industry is benefiting from European Union protections, helping to offset current high energy prices.

Europe's largest steelmaker made earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--a key profit metric--of $2.02 billion for the third quarter, some 34% higher than in the same period a year ago.

Flat steel shipments in Europe rose from a quarter earlier, contrary to normal seasonal patterns, ArcelorMittal said. That reflected the "early impacts of the enhanced EU trade measures," the company said in a release Thursday.

Under new rules that took effect this summer, imports from outside the European Union and its free-trade partners--above a level set at 18.3 million metric tons--are subject to 50% duties, double a previous rate. Brussels has also put into place a carbon-border adjustment mechanism, known as CBAM, that aims to blunt the competitive edge given to external producers that are not subject to Europe's more stringent caps on carbon emissions.

Those measures are "creating a more balanced and sustainable operating environment for the European steel industry, supporting higher capacity utilization and profitability over time," ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Aditya Mittal said. The benefits will be more fully reflected in the company's results from next year on, he said.

High energy prices--the result of conflict in the Middle East that has sent oil-and-gas prices soaring this year--have created a temporary surge in costs for steelmaking, ArcelorMittal said. But lower import volumes have allowed steel prices to adjust to that environment, helping the industry in Europe to earn its cost of capital, the company said.

ArcelorMittal said it has brought back all of its European blast furnaces into operation on the back of the measures.

"It is important that this momentum continues, including further action to address the impact of imports in steel-intensive downstream sectors," CEO Mittal said.

For the quarter, the company swung to an operating loss of $131 million and a net loss of $391 million, reflecting charges of more than $1 billion that the group booked after being forced to halt operations at its Kryvyi Rih plant in Ukraine following a series of missile attacks that killed workers and did extensive damage to production facilities at the site. Adjusted net profit rose on year to $868 million.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects earnings to be driven by rising demand and a pipeline of high-return opportunities in attractive markets. Steel shipments in the year's second half should exceed those of the first six months, ArcelorMittal said.

Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 05, 2026 01:59 ET (06:59 GMT)