Profits fell 29% at ArcelorMittal during the first three months of this year but Europe’s new import barriers against lower-cost Chinese rivals and managed risks from a looming potential energy shock indicates better days ahead, the company said on Thursday.
First-quarter profit slid to $575 million (€493 million) from $805 million (€688 million) during the same period in 2025, ArcelorMittal said. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker was able to raise prices through the first quarter, which increased sales to $15.5 billion (€13.3 billion).
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“The fundamentals of the business have improved over the past three months, driven in particular by the favourable structural reset in the European policy environment,” ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Officer Aditya Mittal said in a statement. “ArcelorMittal is well positioned to capture this upside through existing capacity and by re-starting idled capacity.”
A new EU environmental tax hitting producers from countries with lax carbon emissions rules has slowed the ability of rivals to undercut ArcelorMittal and allowed it to increase prices, the company said. Import quotas due to take effect in July should have a similar beneficial effect, ArcelorMittal said.
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The steelmaker said it will benefit from increasing trade barriers popping up from Europe to North America, Brazil and India.
“Policies are reinforcing the shift toward regionalised steel markets, favouring ArcelorMittal’s business model which is fundamentally built around local production to serve local customer demand,” the company said in a PowerPoint presentation aimed at investment analysts.
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The EU’s new protectionism is leading ArcelorMittal to restart idled blast furnaces in France and Poland and to launch expansion this year at two factories in Spain, the company said.
ArcelorMittal employs more than 2,100 at steel production sites in Belval, Differdange and Rodange and another 400 workers at three other Luxembourg sites.
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Price hedging and supportive EU policy should protect the Luxembourg steelmaker from a big increase in energy prices due to the current closing of oil shipping due to the US-Israeli war against Iran, the company said.
