Although steel demand in Europe is recovering, it is unrealistic to expect it to return to pre-2008/09-crisis levels, according to ArcelorMittal Europe chief executive Aditya Mittal. His firm plans to hire 1,200 people in Europe in each of the next three years.

The 2007 pre-crisis peak of 200 million tonnes in EU28 apparent steel consumption (ASC) was inflated by an economic bubble, Mittal says. Italy, Spain and other now-vulnerable Eurozone economies saw ASC grow rapidly after the creation of the euro in 1999. It then jumped even higher in 2006/2007, fed by an unsustainable consumption boom, Mittal said at a Paris conference monitored by Kallanish.

Germany and countries in Eastern Europe experienced particularly strong demand in 2006/2007 on top of more sustainable demand growth, with ASC recovering post-crisis to this underlying trend. The UK, France, Nordics and Benelux countries did not see particularly strong demand growth or much of a bubble before the crisis. However, they were still hit by the crisis and their ASC is still well below pre-crisis levels.

ArcelorMittal has seen some positive economic signals and has potentiated its European facilities with almost €5 billion investments since 2010, Mittal added.

“EU28 manufacturing output has reached its highest level since 2008, and we saw a 12-month high in Eurozone manufacturing PMI in June,” Mittal commented. “New car registrations in the EU28 countries rose to 13.4 million seasonally in Q2 2015, the highest level for four years. We also saw construction output increase last year by 2.8% y-o-y, and we are now beginning to see further growth after a relatively weak start to the year.”

The company’s ongoing European investment programme focuses on further strengthening its position in high, value-added product sectors, sustainability and environmental improvements.

China remains one of the challenges ahead for ArcelorMittal’s developments in Europe: from 3.7 million tonnes in 2013, Chinese exports to Europe grew to 6.6mt in 2014. These have now skyrocketed to 7.5mt so far in 2015. The 2015 figure represents a 103% increase on 2013.

ArcelorMittal Europe caters to the automotive, construction, infrastructure, transport and energy industries.