According to Steel World Review, the Italian steel federation Federacciai has warned about rising electricity and gas prices and their consequences for the continued operation of steel plants in the country.
According to a report published by GMK Center, citing Federacciai’s positions, the industry association stated that further increases in electricity and natural gas prices in the coming months could threaten the continuity of production at Italian steel plants and, in some cases, even lead to production stoppages.
The warning was issued following a meeting of the Federacciai Board of Directors and General Council on September 22. The federation believes that, given the continuation of international geopolitical tensions, the risk of increased pressure on energy markets in the coming months remains.
In response to these conditions, Federacciai has called for the immediate and temporary suspension of European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) costs for gas-fired power plants and has asked the Italian government to pursue the issue at the European Union level.
The association also stressed the need to maintain existing support mechanisms for energy-intensive industries, including Energy Release. However, according to Federacciai, even with these support measures in place, Italian companies continue to face significantly higher electricity costs than some of their European competitors.
Energy cost pressures are continuing as Italy’s steel production also declined in August. According to Federacciai data, the country’s crude steel production reached 793,000 tonnes in August 2026, down 3.5 percent from the same period last year. July production stood at around 1.7 million tonnes.
However, during the first eight months of 2026 as a whole, Italy’s steel production increased by 2.4 percent year on year to around 14 million tonnes.
Federacciai data also shows that long steel products production fell 10.2 percent year on year in August to 395,000 tonnes, while flat steel products production increased by 30.3 percent to 374,000 tonnes.
The latest warning from Federacciai once again shows that energy costs have become one of the main challenges to the competitiveness of Italy’s steel industry, a significant portion of whose production relies on electric arc furnaces, meaning that changes in electricity prices can directly affect production costs.
