Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation has upheld the order to shut down hot-end operations at the former Ilva steelworks in Taranto, rejecting all appeals filed by Acciaierie d'Italia and Ilva, both under extraordinary administration. The ruling, issued on October 29 by the court's Joint Civil Sections, renders final the July 27 decision of the Milan Court of Appeal, which ordered the cessation of hot-end production activities on health and environmental grounds.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis on October 27, the facilities had been maintained in preheating mode following a government legislative measure allowing their preservation until December 15, pending the Supreme Court's ruling. With the appeals now dismissed, the possibility of overturning the judicial shutdown order has been eliminated.
The extraordinary commissioners will now have to determine the technical procedures and timetable for shutting down the blast furnaces. The ruling raises serious concerns about the continuity of production at Italy's largest steelmaking site, while the group's sale process is still ongoing, with the deadline for submitting binding offers set for November 8.
