On October 17, Franco Bernabè, president of the biggest Italian steelmaker Acciaierie d’Italia, expressed concerns about the future of the company and handed the responsibility for managing the company directly to the Italian government, as reported by local Italian media.
During a speech to Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Bernabè listed the difficulties at the production site, including the most imminent, namely the risk of a gas supply shutdown. In fact, Acciaierie d'Italia currently benefits from a default supply regime that is about to expire and be replaced by commercial supply. In order to avail of commercial supply, however, Acciaierie d’Italia must provide the supplier with a downpayment of about €100 million, which it cannot afford at the moment.