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Interview with Antonio Marcegaglia, Marcegaglia SpA CE

Wednesday, 25 March 2009 11:26:43 (GMT+3)   |  
       
SteelOrbis lately met with Marcegaglia SpA CEO Antonia Marcegaglia at a steel industry conference in Italy. We were particularly interested to get his opinion on the current state of the steel markets, especially as regards the prospects for recovery, and also to hear of the latest developments concerning Marcegaglia's recent investments in the UK and China 

What is the sentiment of steel players during this event?

There are many visitors here. This means that the steel industry is seeking to react to get out from the current situation.

Everybody is talking about recovery. When will we see it?

Volumes and demand will require lot of time to return to the levels we have been used to seeing. However, we have to keep one thing in mind: we have come from several years of incredible growth, so comparisons will have to take this into account. Nevertheless, when we come to drawing up the average statistics in 2014 back as far as 2004, the overall trend will be positive.

I believe that before the end of the second quarter we will see a rebound in actual volumes. I think that demand levels will improve from minus 50 percent up to minus 20 percent.

The service centers say that it will take about six months to return to standard stock levels with the government's stimulus package. Do you agree?

I believe that at the end of the first semester we will have reached standard stock levels. Construction and white goods are already showing quite low stocks.  The automotive industry will require some more time.

Your investment in Teeside guarantees a regular supply. How is it going?

Today, the cost of buying coils is lower than the cost of producing them in Europe. When we signed our agreement the situation was different and more convenient; however, our group has a long-term strategy so we will see good results in the future.

And your located plant near Shanghai?

It is going well. We experienced a delay of a couple of months, but we believe to recovery this time. We expect to kick off in the first quarter of 2010. We plan an annual production of 300,000 metric tons of tubes, with 20-25 percent of this production consisting of high quality products for automotive and cylinders.

And what about the stainless steel market? It started to show weakness before the carbon steel market...

It is suffering about 10-15 percent less than carbon steel, but, as you said, the negative period started earlier.


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