The Sainte-Saulve plant (North), which employs 270 people, produces steel bars dedicated to the manufacture of rails, in particular for the SNCF.

On Wednesday, representatives of the CGT and CFDT unions from the site bought four months ago by Saarstahl had said that the steelworks could see 40% of its production temporarily transferred to Germany - where the blast furnaces run on coal, much cheaper than the electricity, the prices of which are currently soaring, but therefore emit more greenhouse gases.

The government reacted quickly, after several years of mobilization to save the Sainte-Saulve site which resulted in particular in a loan of 20 million euros granted at the beginning of the year to pay salaries.

And Thursday evening, after a meeting with Saarstahl following several other meetings, Bercy had announced that the German group was giving up its project.

Friday afternoon, Saarstahl confirmed that "reflections on a possible limited and temporary transfer of volumes are no longer pursued," in a statement.

The steel group underlined the "success" of "numerous talks" with "customers, suppliers, members of staff", which took place in "collaboration with the French authorities", but without giving more details on the counterparts. or the assurances obtained to abandon his project.

"We will not be able to go into the details of conversations between a customer and his supplier, but what was at the heart of the solution was the renegotiation of the contractual conditions concerning the rails, with all the customers who are in particular French and Belgian. I think that Hayange's first customer is well known, "we told the office of the Minister for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Friday, referring to the SNCF.

Green steel

"The State was able to sensitize all the actors, on both sides, including on the side of Saarstahl but also large French companies which work with Saarstahl so that there is quite simply a solution which is It is also in the interest of customers who wish to have steel that Saarstahl continues to supply them with green steel - and not steel that comes from Germany and from blast furnaces with coal-fired energy ", highlighted the minister's office.

Three avenues of work had been mentioned in particular during the various working meetings between the German steelmaker and government representatives, one of which was to index the contract between Saarstahl with the SNCF on soaring world iron prices.

The contract between Ascoval and EDF will also change on January 1 to "stabilize" the cost of electricity.

Emmanuel Macron and Xavier Bertrand during a visit to the Familistère Godin de Guise in Guise in the Aisne on November 19, 2021 BENOIT TESSIER POOL / AFP

For Ms. Pannier-Runacher, on a trip to Isère on Friday, "what was at stake was the production of electric steel, ie 90% carbon-free in France, compared to coal production. . We could see all the collective absurdity of a decision of this nature ".

For Xavier Bertrand, on the other hand, "the chosen solution is not satisfactory. It is the electricity tariff the problem. As long as there is competition from the Germans with coal, they (Ascoval) will not be competitive" , estimated the president of the Hauts-de-France region and candidate for the LR nomination for the presidential election, during a pass of arms with Emmanuel Macron in the Aisne.

The announcement of a partial relocation of the activity of this emblematic factory had aroused the anger of many elected politicians.

The government also wanted to avoid at all costs an industrial and ecological setback, five months before the presidential election.

Following the financial woes of Liberty Steel and its boss, the British magnate Sanjeev Gupta, Saarstahl decided in June to acquire the group's two French sites, Ascoval (North) and Hayange (Moselle).

mhc-im-cb-jmi-kd / ico / els

© 2021 AFP