Global steel demand, excluding China, will increase by 2% year-on-year in 2026, while production and supplies will increase in all regions this year, driven by improved operations and trade measures, ArcelorMittal said.
The group plans to meet the medium- and long-term demand for steel driven by investments in energy transition, new infrastructure and mobility systems, defense security, and data center capacity, Kallanish notes.
ArcelorMittal's consolidated steel shipments in the fourth quarter of 2025 decreased by 4% year-on-year to 13 million tons, while production fell by 9% to 12.8 million tons.
Sales, however, rose 2% to $14.97 billion, and net income, adjusted for exceptional items and one-time tax charges, rose 62% to $654 million.
Over the past 12 months, the global economy has shifted towards "greater resilience in domestic supply" amid widespread tariff increases, says Aditya Mittal, executive director of ArcelorMittal. "This has led to an increasing number of countries finally taking steps to increase the competitiveness of their manufacturing industries," he adds.
"Nowhere was this more necessary than in Europe," he continues. The proposed new trading regime and changes to CBAM have played a crucial role in equalizing carbon prices.
"Collectively, this will allow European producers to return to a sustainable level of use and make significant returns on their invested capital. And although all the benefits of changes in the regulatory framework will manifest over time – more noticeably in the second half of 2027 – we have every opportunity to benefit from this direction," Mittal notes.
According to ArcelorMittal forecasts, the new trade regime will reduce steel imports to the EU by 10 million tons per year. Existing furnaces can operate at a higher load, and idle units can be restored as demand recovers, the group notes. It is also expected that in 2026, new production facilities for the production of rolled products with a capacity of 1 million tons per year in Gijon and the expansion of long products in Sestao will be launched to increase the production of flat products.
For the whole of 2025, ArcelorMittal's shipments decreased by 1% compared to the same period last year to 54 million tons, while steel production decreased by 4% to 55.6 million tons. Sales fell 2% to $61.4 billion, but adjusted net income rose 26% to $2.94 billion. The latter is explained by lower exchange rates
