At MetalBulletin's 11th Steel Success Strategies conference held in Istanbul on February 18-20, Italian steelmaker Marcegaglia's CEO Antonio Marcegaglia said, in response to a question regarding reports of a plan by ArcelorMittal to acquire part or all of Italian steel producer Ilva, that this does not seem likely since Ilva is under the control of the Italian government.
Last week, Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore had reported that ArcelorMittal was interested in buying part or all of Italian steelmaker Ilva from the Riva family.
Commenting on the global steel market and the European flat steel market, Mr. Marcegaglia said that he expects coking coal prices to see a sharp decline and iron ore prices to fall to around $100/mt in the near term.
Mr. Marcegaglia cited the intimidating antidumping duty investigations by US producers and restricted imports and the US' well-organized distribution system as the reasons behind the relatively positive demand situation in the US compared to the rest of the world. Concerning the surging costs caused by European environmental laws, the Marcegaglia CEO said he anticipated that the pressure coming from environmental issues would escalate in the coming period. Regarding the environmental laws, Marcegaglia stated that Europe cannot take a real step on environmental issues unless the rest of the world is convinced to adopt the sensitivity of Europe in relation to the matter.
Mr. Marcegaglia concluded that the most important risks the steel industry in Europe is facing are the overvalued euro, environmental laws and the slow recovery of weak demand.