Antonio Gozzi, president of Duferco Italia Holding and former Federacciai head, expects the European steel sector to enjoy a positive 2022 despite a number of global uncertainties.
“2022 will be a good year,” Gozzi said during a Siderweb webinar on Tuesday attended by Kallanish. “Not extraordinary like 2021, but still positive. Demand is still strong for the steel sector and I expect raw material prices to move down slightly from 2021 levels. The automotive sector is also starting to send some recovery signals after the negative trend of 2020 and 2021. Finally, the positive effects of the Next Generation EU investments should start being seen during this year.”
Energy prices are expected to remain one of the main issues going forward. Gozzi believes energy prices are close to peaking in Europe, but in the medium term these will move in a new higher range compared with pre-2020 levels.
Answering a question directly on safeguard measures, Gozzi highlighted that the European economy needs to always take into consideration that the EU has decided to be on the frontline of the climatic transition. “At this stage, it is not possible to be completely open on the market front if domestic European producers face high costs linked to decarbonisation,” he explained. It is therefore not possible to consider the cancellation of safeguard measures at present, he added.
Emanuele Norsa Italy
