The Italian government supported the steel sector in the conditions of the energy crisis

At the end of September 2022, the Ministry of Economic Development of Italy approved the «Aiuti ter» decree, which defines measures in the field of energy policy and business productivity. This will allow reducing the impact of energy costs for energy-intensive industries, reports Kallanish.

Steel companies will be able to take advantage of a 40% tax discount at the end of 2022. It will be calculated considering each producer’s real energy consumption. According to source, the discount will not be given to companies that will not carry out production.

Less energy-intensive enterprises, such as scrap processors, will be able to take advantage of a similar scheme – a 30% tax discount.

Amid government support, Italian long and flat producers resumed production this week.

At the same time, the Italian Acciaierie d’Italia is now looking for help, reports Reuters. The steel giant is discussing options with Italy’s finance ministry to secure gas supplies after a sharp rise in gas prices.

Acciaierie d’Italia (formerly Ilva), 38% of which is controlled by state-owned agency Invitalia and 62% by ArcelorMittal, has accumulated more than $269 million in debt to energy group Eni.

Also, according to sources, the steel producer did not conclude a new gas contract for October. If Acciaierie fails to do so, it can theoretically use a «default gas transport» service, receiving it from the operator Snam, but this is a temporary solution. In early August 2022, the Italian government allocated €1 billion to keep Acciaierie afloat, but the funds have not yet been disbursed.

As GMK Center reported earlier, the Spanish government promised to support the steel sector in the event of an energy crisis, providing the industry with the amount of energy resources necessary for its operation. In recent months, the country’s government has allocated more than €850 million to support local gas and electricity-intensive industries.

As GMK Center wrote before, the European Commission plans to introduce a single electricity price limit for the entire market at the level of €180 MWh as part of the EU’s initial package of emergency measures to curb electricity prices.