ArcelorMittal announced on Tuesday that it is considering relocating some of its support activities from Europe to India, a move that would affect Belgium.
During a European works council meeting, the company said it would explore the possibility of consolidating certain support functions in a shared services centre in India.
The European steel industry faces several major challenges threatening its future, which has been worsened by recent comments from US President Donald Trump, according to ArcelorMittal.
On Monday evening, Trump signed two executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium, starting on 12 March.
With the European steel sector already destabilised by Chinese overproduction, ArcelorMittal Europe is focusing on reducing non-production-related costs to tackle these challenges.
The company is currently conducting studies to identify the specific activities that could be moved to the shared services centre.
These include human resources, financial services, procurement, sales and marketing, as well as order management, supply chain (including shipping and distribution), and information systems.
The studies involve teams spread across 31 legal entities in France, Poland, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the UK.
However, the group emphasised that no steel production activities would be relocated from Europe to India as part of this initiative.
