Acciaierie d’Italia produced about 3 million tons of steel in 2023

Italian steel company Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI), a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and state-owned Invitalia, produced 3 million tons of steel in 2023. This was announced by ADI CEO Lucia Morselli, Kallanish reports.

According to her, the company’s warehouse stocks currently reach 1 million tons of raw materials and finished products. In addition, ADI sold 2.5 million tons, but the period during which sales were secured is not specified.

Acciaierie d’Italia is at risk of shutting down due to liquidity problems. According to Morselli, the company’s net debt is about €700 million, while the total debt is €3.1 billion.

«This debt is mostly internal, to the holding company, about €1 billion. We have to pay another €1 billion if we decide to complete the purchase of equipment. The production units of the Taranto steel plant belong to Ilva. The lease that ADI pays for the use of the equipment expires in May this year, and approximately €700 million is an outstanding debt,» ADI CEO added.

Lucia Morselli emphasizes that the company continues to produce steel and pay salaries. However, the lack of credit and liquidity problems, the economic crisis during COVID-19 and rising energy costs have severely affected productivity.

Recently, it was reported that Acciaierie d’Italia may have shut down some of its facilities. In particular, according to Rocco Palombella, secretary of the Uilm trade union, the shutdown of several facilities in Taranto has been going on for some time, with blast furnace No. 2 already shut down and coke oven batteries being prepared for shutdown.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Acciaierie d’Italia is close to stopping gas supplies due to debts – an Italian court allowed energy companies to cut off gas supplies to ADI. The company appealed this decision to the Council of State, the highest court. This means a freeze on the measures, and any decision on gas supply can only be made after discussions between the regulator Arera and Snam, the supplier of last resort for the former Ilva.

Also, in early January 2024, ArcelorMittal rejected the Italian government’s plan to acquire a controlling stake in ADI. A government statement said that Invitalia was ready to invest about €320 million ($351.10 million) in ADI to increase its stake to 66%. However, the steel corporation has refused to provide guarantees for the additional investments that the company will need, even as a minority shareholder.