Feralpi, 220 million relaunch on the German economy

A 220 million euro relaunch for the future of European industry. Feralpi has inaugurated a new rolling mill in Riesa, just over two hours' drive from Berlin, which, due to its technological and environmental characteristics, marks a milestone not only in the history of the Italian steel group, but also in the European relaunch process towards a new season of industrial recovery, with low environmental impact. For Feralpi, this is the largest single investment in its history in Germany and Feralpi Stahl - already a protagonist in the 1990s of German reconstruction following the relaunch of the Brescia-based group that inherited the legacy of what was a former DDR kombinat - is ready to be, once again, the linchpin of an industrial recovery. The new rolling mill, with zero direct emissions (Scope 1), supplied by the Italian company Danieli, represents a significant technological leap: it is the first in the entire German market to make continuous rolling possible through billet welding and is equipped with a zero-emission induction furnace system. A 300-meter-long induction-heated roller path directly connects the new rolling mill to the existing continuous casting plant. This continuous hot process is electrically powered, thus avoiding direct CO2 emissions. In the future - explain the technicians of the German company - it will also be possible to produce a hot-rolled coil weighing eight tons, a product that in turn will set new standards on the market.

The scenic impact of the plant is remarkable, with the 300 meters of roller "elevated", completely closed and insulated, which serve to accompany the steel from the continuous casting to the rolling mill. "I call it the subway," says Feralpi Group president Giuseppe Pasini proudly, raising his eyes upwards. "The inauguration of this new plant in Riesa demonstrates our long-term vision and our constant commitment to investing in advanced technologies to strengthen our competitiveness on the global market and pursue increasingly sustainable production. Perhaps you don't realize it, but an eight-ton coil means 25 kilometers of wire." The preconditions for this goal began in 1992, with the commitment to hire around 300 people and produce 500 thousand tons by taking over the Riesa plant from the privatization plan as part of German unification. "At the time, Kohl was in Berlin, a man of great vision and strategic ability," recalls Pasini. Thirty years later, with almost a thousand people at work and 1.3 million tons produced, 27-28% of the German market, we have not only achieved the goal, but we have gone beyond it. With this plant we have hired another hundred people, strengthening the union with this community of which I feel fully an integral part". Now the German state, with the installation of the new chancellery led by Friedrich Merz, aims to rise again as an industrial locomotive and to act as a driving force for the entire European Union, with the announced fiscal stimulus plan of one billion euros. "A push is needed especially in the construction and civil works sector," added the general manager of Feralpi Stahl, Uwe Reinecke. "In Germany we are in the third year of recession, but here in Riesa we were among the few not to make redundancy payments".

Speaking to the approximately 500 people who attended the inaugural ceremony (during which he remembered the figure of Giampiero Benedetti, president of Danieli who passed away a year ago), Pasini then stated that he "firmly believes in Germany's growth potential and we want to be a driving force behind this economic recovery," the president said. "However, to translate this confidence into concrete results, synergic action with German and European politics is essential. Time is up, there are no more alibis. In particular, we believe it is crucial to urgently address the issue of energy prices, which has a heavy impact on the competitiveness of our industry, and to recognize the centrality of ferrous scrap as a strategic raw material for a circular economy and resilient manufacturing. Only with targeted support on these two fronts will we be able to fully deploy our potential and significantly contribute to a prosperous and sustainable future for Germany and Europe. Not to mention the need for a system of a trade policy that protects us from the risk of an invasion of Chinese products due to the trade war with the USA. We ask for a Safeguard system that also extends to downstream products". 2024 was a complicated year for the entire Italian and European steel industry. In this context, Feralpi saw its revenues drop slightly, to 1.7 billion. "The financial year did not go very well - Pasini acknowledges -, especially in terms of margins. The German hub, within the Group, is now worth 45%, down compared to the past. Germany has suffered more than Italy, in the current context, penalized by some questionable choices by the Scholz Chancellery. We have many expectations in the new Government that has just been installed, especially in terms of the relaunch of infrastructure".

The Minister President of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, who spoke at the inauguration, stressed that "the investment in the new spooler rolling mill demonstrates the company's confidence in Saxony as an industrial location". In a region where, as in many other German regions, the balances that have supported it for decades have disappeared (in Saxony AfD has grown up to 30%, and is the second party after the CDU), the investment of the Italian group emerges as "a strong signal in difficult economic times - the political leader summarized -. This is why it is so important to me that industries such as Feralpi Stahl continue to find conditions in the future that allow for the creation of value and technological transformation with fair competition. After all - he added - this is what guarantees our economic sovereignty, the prudent use of resources and jobs in industry. The objectives formulated in the coalition agreement make me confident that the new federal government will act quickly on the points that are also crucial for the steel industry. This applies in particular to the particularly – he concluded – for the competitive prices of energy and for the duration of the authorization procedures".

The Minister for European Affairs, the PNRR and Cohesion Policies, Tommaso Foti, also spoke at the ceremony (with a large Italian representation, with numerous steel entrepreneurs and the president of Federacciai himself, Antonio Gozzi). "The moment is difficult, the geopolitical framework has changed, Europe is losing its centrality - he said -. We cannot, in this juncture, run the risk of losing our industrial vocation, just as energy autonomy is a value to be defended. The ideological conflict between businesses and the environment must be overcome, and this investment is the declination of what our approach to sustainability must be. The real challenge is to find the tools and concrete actions that allow us to decline an idea and translate it into facts. This initiative on the Italy-Germany axis - he added - confirms the strong bond between the two countries and this is the path we will continue on with the new Government. We also need greater solidarity within Europe: the Union must return to being political, returning to guide choices that cannot provide immediate consensus, but which are necessary".