On the sidelines of the presentation of Taranto-Italy based steel mill Ilva's 2011 Environment and Safety Report, Fabio Riva, vice president of Riva Fire, reaffirmed the holding company's commitment towards Ilva, which is the biggest integrated steel production plant in Europe.
Commenting on the economy and on Ilva's situation in particular, Mr. Riva stated, "We are observing a deep economic crisis caused by structural issues, worsened by the tightening of credit accessibility, which is curbing steel demand," adding, "However, we are not slackening our activity, as reducing crude steel output at Ilva's blast furnaces would greatly boost production costs, to an unbearable degree. Production capacity at the company's facilities needs to be exploited as much as possible."