Federacciai shows some optimism over future recovery

Italian steelmakers’ association Federacciai president Alessandro Banzato says Italian crude steel output is recovering slightly, calling the June decline of only -13% on-year “…encouraging.” This comes after the sharp drop of over -42% in April and over -16% in May.

During a webinar organised by Siderweb, Banzato added that the former Ilva steelmaker, now ArcelorMittal Italia, has been running at minimum capacity.

“If this gradual recovery was to consolidate in the coming months, we could forecast an end of year production fall of -15%, in line with forecasts for Europe,” Banzato commented. “My hope is that we do better before the decisive recovery forecast for 2021.” While scrap values are forecast to broadly remain stable next month in Italy, he also said German price movements in August will have an impact on other European countries.

Meanwhile, UBI Banca foresees a recovery between 2021-2022 with a gradual and progressive improvement particularly for those companies and sectors that focus on exports, Kallanish understands. However, 2020 will be particularly negative for Italy’s GDP and companies in the steel sector, UBI Banca concludes.