ArcelorMittal foresees Ilva turnaround by mid-2019: Jehl

Work to turn around the fortunes of the former Italian integrated steelmaker Ilva by ArcelorMittal was officially begun at the beginning of November. ArcelorMittal is now targeting to push the plant’s production level to 6 million tonnes/year in the first half of 2019, Matthieu Jehl, ceo of ArcelorMittal Italia, told Kallanish during an interview in Naples.

The executive confirms that the result will be achieved by maximising the potential of the Taranto plant and by supplying some slab and coil to the Italian rolling lines from other group plants. As expected, the plant of Fos Sur Mer, for example, will supply coils to the finishing lines of Genova and Novi Ligure. The Genova unit will focus on tinplate and zinc-coating, while Novi Ligure will concentrate on the supply of automotive grades of product.

This year Ilva is expected to reach a production level of some 4.5m t/y (see Kallanish passim).

The environmental plan agreed with the local Italian authorities however will continue to be central to the company turnaround in 2019. At the Taranto plant, for example, the covering over of the raw material parks with a new structure should be completed next year. This represents the first example of such a solution in an integrated site in Europe.

“Our project is to produce Italian steel for the Italian market,” Matthieu Jehl said when asked about where the additional volumes produced will be sold. He nevertheless confirmed that Ilva will be included in the ArcelorMittal global network.

This view was echoed by Carlo Malasomma, chief marketing officer of ArcelorMittal Italia, who explained that the former Ilva will now have access to the global client portfolio of the entire group. He added nevertheless that Ilva had clearly lost share in the Italian market during the years that the company was in administration. The first target is to recover this share, as well as the leadership in the market.

In terms of the strategy for distribution, Jehl stressed that ArcelorMittal Italia will be a partner of the existing service centres network of ArcelorMittal CLN. It will also work closely however with other distributors and service centres in the country. On this topic Luigi Rapullino, head of service centre Sideralba, said during the event attended by Jehl that he is confident ArcelorMittal Italia will work to preserve the existing supply chain in Italy. There is an understanding that the local market needs a strong producer as well as its independent distribution facilities and service centres.

To conclude, Jehl confirmed that the group is actively working on the launch of a new research and development department in Taranto, to involve ArcelorMittal Italia in the development of new products with clients. The head of the new unit has been appointed and activities should start in 2019.

“One of our key messages is that we want to work with transparency and following our group’s compliance culture,” Jehl said.