The comments were made during a works council meeting in Paris which offered little hope for unions looking for a pickup in production next year, the reports said.

ArcelorMittal finance chief Aditya Mittal said when it reported quarterly earnings last month that the company expected the third and fourth quarters of this year to "mark the low point in the cycle.

"On Tuesday, a spokesman declined to comment on the reports from the works council meeting, but said the steelmaker's outlook had not changed.After permanently shutting down its two blast furnaces in Florange in the Moselle region close to Belgium and Germany earlier this year, the steelmaker said on Monday it would keep one of its two furnaces based in Dunkirk shuttered into next year as well, financial daily Les Echos reported.