Mr Giuseppe Pasini chairman of Italian steelmakers association Federacciai said that Italy's iron and steel industry reacted to the global crisis of 2009, when sales revenues fell by 50% to 60%, with the help of its export activity. However, he admitted that forecasts for the industry are uncertain once again.

According to Mr Pasini, in Italy the current economic slowdown is aggravated by critical issues such as excess bureaucracy restricting development of ambitious infrastructural projects, the high costs of energy and even EU environmental protection policies, which are forward looking but penalize European industry.

He went on to comment that "Italian steel enterprises are far too small to target China or India; however, closer countries also offer great opportunities."

He noted, for example, that Algeria and Tunisia have been a good source of deals for Italian steelmaker Feralpi Group, his own family business. Indeed, helped by exports, in 2011 the company's sales revenue went up by 28% YoY to EUR 1.1 billion.

Regarding the state of the steel sector in Italy, Mr Pasini stated that "The Italian steel market is affected by overcapacity of about 30%. The only way to overcome this is through mergers and acquisitions, in order to challenge the international steel giants."

(Sourced from Steel Orbis)
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