Italian steelmakers, already on holiday, are expected to shut down production for around 18 days this winter over the Christmas break, but for around 13 days in 2021. The downtime is expected to be longer if the market does not recover as expected, mainly due to the slow recovery of demand in the market. If you look at Duferco [the Italian steel producer], it’s been shut down for six weeks now, but normally it’s about four weeks over the Christmas break. The Marcegaglia Corporation, an Italian steel processing company, said a Christmas shutdown at the plant would last from December 23 to January 9, 2023, although certain production lines would continue to operate. Acciaierie d ‘Italia (the first steel production group in Italy) will continue to reduce production rates, and blast furnaces No. 1 and No. 4 are currently operating.

 In November 2022, steel production by Italian steelmakers decreased 15.1% year-on-year to 1.854 million tonnes and 7.9% month-on-month. In November 2022, Italian plate production fell 30.4 per cent from November last year to 731,000 tonnes. Some producers are also looking ahead to next year, with prices for hot-rolled coil for delivery in February and March rising by around 700 euros a tonne from current levels around 650 euros.