The Feralpi group tries to anticipate the decarbonization targets requested by the EU by 2050 (the intermediate step to 2030 is a 55% reduction in emissions) and sets the goal of bringing the share of renewable energy needs, investing 100 million euros for this purpose. The group yesterday presented a plan to Made in Steel to reach an installed power of one hundred megawatts, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 85,000 tons per year once the project is completed. The investment (the group aims to invest directly in photovoltaic systems and the dialogue with some Italian partners has already started) will also have a positive economic impact thanks to a competitive cost of electricity compared to market values. «The news of these days, with the price of energy skyrocketing throughout Europe – explains the president of the Brescia steel group Giuseppe Pasini – makes it clear that the question of supply sources will be crucial in the future. Companies must do their part, but it is not enough: even if we reach the goal we have set ourselves today, we will still have to depend for a long time on other sources and if there is no European management of the transition, we risk not getting there by 2030 ” .
The group – reveals Pasini – has already been forced, in recent days, to shut down the plants. «In the peak moments of the day some stops have been made – explains Pasini -, under these conditions it is better to slow down. Nothing dramatic; this situation will inevitably weigh on the accounts, even if the market trend so far is such as to allow us to absorb the blow. However, we are worried about next year ».
The Feralpi group closed the first eight months with production above pre-Covid levels. The growth was 7% compared to the same period of 2019, reaching 1.73 million tons. In the first six months of 2021, revenues grew by 56.9% compared to the corresponding period of 2020, to 879 million euros. Having invested in the past on the downstream integration with cold working of steel, destined for major works and infrastructures, has further strengthened Feralpi in the core business of steels for construction: in the first eight months, Presider (a company specialized in the pre-processing of steel produced by the group’s steel mills) increased sales volumes by 27.4%. At the same time, improved performance was also recorded for the specialties business unit thanks to the industrial synergy between Acciaierie di Calvisano and Caleotto, which respectively recorded sales volumes up by 22.1% and 49.6% (compared to the first eight months of 2019).
For the future, Giuseppe Pasini makes no secret of having growth ambitions: “We look at the stock market with curiosity and attention – he said, urged by journalists -, but the listing is not a health walk, it is not just a path of growth through an alternative financial leverage to the traditional ones, but it means making a cultural leap all together, as shareholders, owners, managers and organizations. An IPO must be preceded by a virtuous path with stable results ». In this regard, the group’s new investment plan envisages an expense of 300 million euros equally divided between Germany (where Feralpi owns a “twin” production unit) and Italy. In Germany, in particular, “we will increase production capacity – explains Pasini – with a rolling line for rolls that will allow us to further expand the range”. Finally, as confirmed by the president of Federacciai, Alessandro Banzato, the initiative that Feralpi and other Italian subjects had studied to unblock the impasse in Piombino. “I participated in this hypothesis of study – explains the president -, but the proposed solution, with the pre-reduction and revamping system of some rolling mills, clashed with the expectations of the territory, which demands a return to production”.