Italy allocates €150 million for maintenance of Acciaierie d’Italia plant in Taranto

The government is also seeking to speed up a bridge loan for the troubled steelmaker

The Italian government is working to expedite a €320 million bridge loan to steelmaker Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI), S&P Global reports.

According to sources who attended the meeting with government officials, ADI will also soon receive €150 million for repairs at its Taranto steel mill.

A €320 million bridge loan has already been planned, but it still needs to be approved by the European Commission for compliance with state aid legislation. Italy’s Minister of Enterprise and Production Adolfo Urso said he sees no critical problems in this regard, and the government expects the EC to provide final answers in the next few weeks.

The additional €150 million will allow Acciaierie d’Italia to continue production and start maintenance work on blast furnaces No. 1 and No. 2. Blast Furnace No. 1 was temporarily shut down in July last year, and Blast Furnace No. 2 in January 2024. It will take six to seven months to restart the units, and the company’s new industrial plan, which is being developed by special administrators, is expected to be presented within a month. Subsequently, a tender for the sale will be prepared.

Currently, the Taranto plant uses only one blast furnace (No. 4) and produces 3,000 tons of steel per day.

In February 2024, the Italian government introduced a special administration at Acciaierie d’Italia at the request of the state investment agency Invitalia despite opposition from ADI’s majority shareholder ArcelorMittal (62%). Invitalia holds the remaining 38%.

Five multinational companies have expressed interest in Acciaierie d’Italia, Italian Minister of Enterprise and Production Adolfo Urso said during a meeting with trade unions in early March. According to him, three of them have well-structured projects.

As GMK Center reported earlier, ADI produced 3 million tons of steel in 2023 against the expected 4 million tons.