Federacciai has once again raised the alarm over rising energy costs in Italy, warning that any further increase in electricity and natural gas prices in the coming months could jeopardize production continuity at Italian steelmakers and potentially lead to plant shutdowns.
The Italian steelmakers' association reiterated its concerns following a meeting of its Presidency Office and General Council held today, Tuesday, September 22, in Milan, during which particular attention was paid to the impact of current energy costs on Italy's energy-intensive industries and the steel sector. According to Federacciai, ongoing international geopolitical tensions could further worsen the situation in the coming months, making action on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), as applied to emissions from gas-fired power plants, increasingly necessary. In particular, Federacciai is calling on the Italian government to push at the EU level for a temporary suspension of ETS costs for the thermal power sector for the duration of the energy emergency.
Recent energy price developments have added to the concerns expressed by the association. In the first week of September, Italy's wholesale electricity price (PUN) averaged at €202.89/MWh, up from €194.14/MWh in the previous week. On September 10, Italian industry association Confindustria also reported that the PUN had risen to €228.8/MWh, significantly above the levels recorded in Germany, France and Spain, while the Italian PSV gas price exceeded €80/MWh.
Against this backdrop, and particularly in view of the cost gap with other major European markets, Federacciai said it considers it essential to maintain the measures that in recent years have helped mitigate the impact of high energy costs on energy-intensive industries, including interruptibility schemes, interconnectors and Energy Release. Nevertheless, the association stressed that, even with the support of these mechanisms, Italian companies continue to face electricity costs that are significantly higher than those borne by their European competitors.
The ETS issue also remains at the center of discussions between the Italian government and Brussels. In recent days, it has emerged that several measures included in the energy decree approved in previous months have yet to be implemented, while the ETS dossier remains one of the outstanding issues in talks with the European Union.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the renewed pressure from energy costs comes at a time when Italian steel production has shown signs of slowing. According to the latest data released by Federacciai, Italian crude steel output totaled 793,000 mt in August, down 3.5 percent year on year. However, in the January-August 2026 period, total output remained in positive territory, increasing by 2.4 percent year on year to 13.99 million mt.
Against this backdrop, the evolution of energy costs in the coming months will remain one of the key factors to watch for in the Italian steel industry, both in terms of production continuity and its competitiveness vis-à-vis other European producers.
