In an interview in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on January 28, Rocco Palombella, general secretary of the Italian trade union UILM, expressed his concerns about the future of domestic steelmaker Acciaierie d’Italia’s plant in Taranto.
According to Mr. Palombella, the only functioning blast furnace at the plant is BF No. 4, with BF No. 1 having been shut down last August and BF No. 2 having been shut down in recent days.
As a result, the Uilm official noted, the plant’s production has been reduced to around one million mt of steel per year, versus around three million mt a few months ago and more that 8 million mt in 2012, and the plant’s operations are slowly coming to a halt. Moreover, this slowdown causes an interruption in the functioning of batteries and belts, which puts the security of the plant at risk.
Palombella also stated that the continuous discussions between the company and ArcelorMittal are worsening the situation, because no one genuinely cares about the future of the plant. If it was up to him, he would rebuild BF No. 5 with new technologies, as well as introducing two new electric arc furnaces. The funds are already available, he said, because Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) has already allocated €2 billion for the purpose.