Acciaierie d’Italia confirms 2025 production target

Acciaierie d’Italia, the joint venture between ArcelorMittal and state-owned Invitalia, will produce 8 million tonnes in 2025, the management confirmed during a meeting with the unions and authorities at the Ministry for Economic Development Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (Mise) in Rome.

Acciaierie d’Italia’s president Franco Barnabè and ceo Lucia Morselli revealed that the key element of their 10-year industrial plan for the Taranto steelwork is complete decarbonisation that will be achieved using green hydrogen at the end of the decade, Mise says in a note. The plan also involves transitioning from the integrated steelmaking route to the electric arc furnace route.

The total investment to upgrade Taranto over the next years will stand at €4.7 billion ($5.3 billion), Morselli said. The main objectives of the plan are production continuity in the coming years, the return to full employment by 2025 and achieving environmental sustainability of steel production through the transition from coal to hydrogen complemented by the use of electric arc furnaces and a new direct reduced iron facility. The final aim is “to obtain a competitive product on the market, in terms of quality and cost, which will allow us to reach the levels of production growth expected of 8mt by 2025. By this date, investments in innovative technologies, some already started, will already allow a reduction of about 40% of CO2 and 30% of fine particles,” Mise explains.

While no more details were revealed, minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said that the industrial plan outlined during the meeting is “realistic” but not easy to implement, as the transition to hydrogen in steelmaking will need time, Kallanish notes.

The Taranto steelworks has mothballed blast furnace No.4 from 1 December because of a technical issue. Meltshop No.1 is also idled, together with continuous casting units No.1 and 5. BF No.4 and the rest of the idled equipment is planned to be restarted on 20 January. Acciaierie d’Italia posted approximately 4.4mt of output in 2020. Unions believe the target of 5mt for this year may not be reached.

Natalia Capra France