n° 166 – May 2020

Domestic non-ferrous metals operators are experiencing a difficult and challenging period. The data tell us that mechanical and metallurgical companies - in particular those related to the automotive sector - have suffered significant production and turnover decreases. According to a survey, 87% have experienced a slowdown in demand, 48% consider the budget targets for the current year to be unattainable while only 2% have not sustained any negative impact since the start of the emergency.

In this climate of widespread uncertainty and of government financial support that is slow to arrive, operators are doing what they have always done: working with determination to seize the opportunities that the market offers. There are those who must honour contracts suspended during the lockdown; and there are those who buy but do not sell, convinced that the market can only improve. Those with their own financial resources certainly have an additional key to success for overcoming the recent difficult period, with many opportunities available to those showing intelligence and creativity.

The last few months have taught us that we must be reactive and versatile to those unexpected changes which life can throw at us at any moment. Clearly, Italian companies urgently need: a simplification of the regulatory and administrative framework, both at national and regional level; greater investment in technological innovation and for the treatment of non-recyclable process waste; greater promotion of competitiveness on national and international markets; and an overall tax reform. Uncertainty and fragmentation don’t help.