ArcelorMittal, forged by a 33 billion dollar merger, still ranks second in steel
When Mittal Steel bought Arcelor for 33 billion dollars in 2007, the combined company made about a tenth of all the world's steel. It stayed the biggest producer until 2019, when China's Baowu swallowed rival mills and moved ahead. Headquartered in Luxembourg City, it still supplies 16 percent of automotive steel.
Getting the deal done required concessions. Mittal Steel raised its offer, and the Mittal family agreed to give up its controlling stake and not seek control again without independent directors' approval. The family still held 44.68 percent at the end of 2025, and the rest trades publicly. Operations span 14 countries and 34 integrated and mini-mill plants, and the company mines much of its own raw material, covering 72 percent of its iron ore and 91 percent of its coke needs.
Expansion came fast after the merger. In 2007 it bought a Mexican plant for 1.44 billion dollars and pushed its stake in China Oriental Group past 73 percent, the first foreign company to control a Chinese steel mill. It spun off its stainless division, Aperam, in 2011, and in 2016 unveiled Usibor 2000, a steel billed as one-third stronger than others then available for cars.
Contraction and controversy followed too. Weak European demand idled 9 of 25 blast furnaces by July 2012. Regulators fined it for cartel and price-fixing activity covering 1984 to 2002, and an arbitration panel in 2014 let Senegal cancel a 2.2 billion dollar iron ore and railway contract. Its 2018 purchase of Italy's Taranto steelworks, Europe's largest, ended with the Italian government taking control of the venture in 2024 after heavy debts. In 2020 it sold its American arm to Cleveland-Cliffs for about 1.4 billion dollars.
Energy costs keep reshaping the map, shutting a Bremen blast furnace in 2022 and a Romanian works in 2025. In 2025 the company produced 55.6 million tons against capacity of 74.6 million.
Source: ArcelorMittal
