ArcelorMittal is weighing the closure of its specialty automotive steel plant in Ghent, Belgium, due to financial pressure and dropping demand. The company has started talks with employee representatives. This facility produces unwelded blanks and laser-welded blanks for the car industry.

On January 8, ArcelorMittal announced this consultation process after a business review found severe challenges. Significant drops in sales volume and much lower profit margins caused accumulated losses over several years.

Therefore, the company is thinking about shutting down the unit, which has 90 employees. The review indicates that these long-term deficits make the current operations difficult to sustain.