According to the latest reports, Italy based long steel producer Aferpi is set to restart production (under the new ownership of JSW Steel) on 24 August 2018 following two years of closure.
The production of rails is expected to restart on August 24 with available stock materials and then it will be fed with new semis as 18,400 MT of blooms are expected to arrive at Piombino port, Italy on August 29 whereas the other lines of bars and rod are expected to restart by mid-October with the semis that will be provided directly by JSW Steel.
According to JSW`s industrial plan, in the second half of this year, Aferpi will produce 57,000 MT of rod (total design capacity 600,000 MT/year), 50,000 MT of bars (total design capacity 300,000 MT/year) and 75,000 MT of rails (total design capacity 350,000 MT/year). By the end of 2020, the company forecasts production of 235,000 MT of rod, 230,000 MT of bars and 300,000 MT of rail a year.
JSW also plans to install two new electric-arc furnaces with a combined capacity of 3 MnT per year to produce semis for longs and also flats production, with production planned to start within 18 months. JSW will also consider the possibility of building a third EAF, but that will depend on market needs. Before the EAFs are operational JSW will feed the Aferpi rolling mill with blooms and billets from its mills in India.
JSW will not only produce longs at Aferpi, but also plans to manufacture hot-rolled coil for both the Italian and Northern European markets.
JSW Steel has acquired Italy based Aferpi in May 2018 for INR 6,000 crore from Algeria’s Cevital Group. Originally owned by Russia’s Severstal, Aferpi company ran into trouble in the 2008 recession that cut Europe’s steel demand by about a quarter. It was declared insolvent in 2012 and the Italian government placed Aferpi under special administration before founding a suitable buyer in Cevital Group.
Aferpi has an annual steel production capacity of about 2 MnT in Piombino with rails as its main business. The company also manufactures special steel used in automobile and earth-moving vehicles, among others. JSW has been one of Aferpi`s main blooms suppliers since the Italian mill`s hot end was closed in 2014. With Aferpi’s acquisition, JSW Steel gained a foothold in Italian and other European markets, after attempting to acquire Ilva, Italy`s largest flats producer, but losing out to ArcelorMittal.