Italian steelmaker AFV Beltrame Group has announced an imminent increase in the prices of merchant bars. “The decision is due to an increase in costs, determined in turn by the important production stoppages that we have made in recent months. It has nothing to do with scrap prices, which in a slack market context is usually the main driver and which has not seen major changes since the beginning of the year. Rather than helping to demolish the prices on the market, we preferred to shake things up”, Enrico Fornelli, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of the Vicenza-based group, explained.
For the group, which is the leader in the production of merchant bars in Europe, 2019 will be a year of important decisions also in other respects. After a period of restructuring that led to various internal changes, the company is now in the ideal condition to decide how and where to invest to continue to be a market leader. “We have very clear various opportunities and various solutions that are currently being discussed within the company. I am certain that the board of directors will decide for the best, with the aim of further improving the range of services and customer service”, Fornelli pointed out.
In 2018, the group saw 1.6 percent growth in sales volumes and a positive operating result up almost 30 percent. This was the culmination of a period in which the company reached a strong managerial structure, improved its operating costs and production quality and achieved an excellent state of health. “Like everyone else, we enjoyed a positive international situation but we were also helped by the changes that took place inside the company in all sectors, from production to logistics to sales. The latest financial results, among the best in Beltrame's history, have confirmed the validity of this strategy”, Fornelli said.
Speaking of the current year, AFV Beltrame's commercial director acknowledged that 2019 started with some difficulties due to various reasons. Among these, international protectionism, the fears related to Brexit, and the slowdown of the European economy in general. “However it depends a lot on what you are used to and the sector in which you work. For us, this year hasn't started off well, especially in Italy, where most customers want to receive their material "just in time". A circumstance that confers an always greater weight to logistics. We have also noticed a slowdown in Germany, while we continue to enjoy stable sales in other areas, such as the Scandinavian one, and we have even seen improvements in countries like Spain. Therefore, when we draw the sums at the end of the month, we realize that things have not gone wrong as we expected”, he concluded.