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ArcelorMittal Mothballs Spanish Mini-Mill

"Management has taken the decision in view of extremely adverse conditions ... (namely) falling steel prices caused by record imports from China at prices below production costs," a company spokesman told the Reuters news service.

The makes hot rolled coils and sells into the automotive, general industrial and construction sectors and to service centers. Reuters said the decision affects 330 jobs.

The (London) Telegraph newspaper said the announcement is the latest evidence of an intensifying steel crisis in Europe. European steelmakers, it said, are under pressure from unfairly subsidized imports from China.

The U.K. steel industry has already shed thousands of jobs and shuttered mills as a result of the crisis.