Some Italian steelmakers to reopen this week

Some Italian steel producers will resume activity later this week and have been authorised by Italian authorities to ship material and restart commercial activities, sources tell Kallanish.

Long producers Beltrame, Pittini, Ori Martin, Acciaierie Venete are reopening while ArcelorMittal Italia has received permission from Italian authorities to restart sales of its production from the Taranto steelworks. Some tube makers such as re-roller Marcegaglia will resume re-rolling and commercial activities, also by Friday.

On the stainless steel side, Cogne has confirmed its production restart this week together with the earlier-announced Acciai Speciali Terni AST resumption (see Kallanish 7 April).

However, distributors and most end-users remain closed and there is some concern regarding the potential of clients placing new orders considering the current problem of liquidity. At the end of March distributors’ clients were mostly unable to pay while distributors paid off all their outstanding invoices, sources tell Kallanish.

Sources believe that the market will need a couple of weeks to resume normal operations. The first steps towards a full reopening of the steel supply chain are expected to be taken as from Tuesday 14 April, according to Alessandro Banzato, head of Federacciai, in an interview during a webinar this week.