In order to maintain its competitiveness in the international market, Aosta, Italy-based special steel company Cogne Acciai Speciali plans to invest more in high technologies, and also to widen its product range and to sign framework agreements with major foreign steel companies worldwide.
Cogne Acciai Speciali has stated that its performance so far in 2011 is in line with the positive trend observed in the long stainless steel market and is also in line with the significant improvements in demand from the energy and automotive sectors. The company has returned to pre-crisis levels of performance, with its capacity utilization in the second quarter this year reaching 90 percent.
However, Cogne Acciai Speciali's vice president Roberto Marzorati has complained that in Italy the cost of energy is too high, and this slows down the recovery process of the industry.
He went on to say that another negative factor in Italy is related to logistics, since the railway system is too poor and not sufficiently developed to assist companies. Moreover, he added, there should be greater flexibility in management of labor contracts in order to allow companies to regulate their activity based on actual market changes.