17.06.2021 | Aluminium Association
How did the history of the aluminum industry in Italy develop and what is characteristic of it today? What are the urgent tasks facing the aluminum associations of Russia and Italy? How important is the low carbon footprint of a product to Europeans, and why is FACE in favor of lowering import duties on aluminum? On the eve of the Russian-Italian Forum (June 24-25, 2021), Mario Conserva, Secretary General of the European Federation of Aluminum Consumers (FACE), talks about this and much more.
– The key objectives of our association are to expand the use of aluminium in various sectors of the economy and to develop the production of aluminium products with high added value. In this regard, we are very interested in the Italian experience in creation of the aluminium industry. How did the Italian aluminium industry become the second largest in the EU?
The aluminium system in Italy was born a few years after the first semi-industrial productions of the new metal with the development in 1896 of the patents of Charles Hall and Paul Heroult for the production of metal by electrolysis. As early as 1897 in Italy there was the pioneering application of an aluminium roof, still existing, for the dome of the church of San Gioacchino in Rome. The first aluminium smelter was built in Italy in 1907, and had a production in that year of 322 tons of primary metal. The major developments in primary metal production in our country took place after the First World War with the Swiss group AIAG, subsequently called Alusuisse, which built the Porto Marghera smelter of 6000 t / year of primary material near Venice, subsequently integrated by rolling and extrusion plants.. This was the basis for the great development of the aluminum industrial system in Italy which, in various phases, has developed up to the present day, placing itself among the top in Europe, second only to Germany. The numbers of the current situation are given in my separate article. I can add that the aluminium industrial system in Italy as a whole appears to have a very evolved and articulated structure that ensures the sector is ranked at the top of the European and global framework in terms of production and uses. In particular, with a current per capita consumption of metal of more than 30 kg, Italy is in fact in a leading position in Europe, well above the European average which is around 20 kg. The strong roots of the aluminum industrial system in Italy have led to the development over the last few decades of a significant induced activity linked to the second transformations, and consequent growth of a solid technological and plant know-how at the top of the world in some specific sectors such as extrusion, foundry and diecasting. To complete the picture of the industrial system of aluminum in Italy, it should be emphasized that following the raw metal production and the first transformations there is an extremely articulated downstream consisting of:
- machine and plant fabricators (foundry, diecasting, extrusion, drawing, surface treatments), for a significant annual turnover of billion euros; our country is in particular at the top of the world for pressure die casting machines, extrusion and rolling plant engineering;
- third processing, such as painting, anodic oxidation, welding, various mechanical processing of semi-finished products and aluminum castings, for an indicative annual turnover of the order of billion euros; our country is at the top in Europe for the quantities of painted / oxidized aluminum produced and for the manufacture of finishing systems;
- creation of manufactured aluminium based value added products products, such as, just to mention the main ones:
doors and windows, facades, roofs, mosquito nets and shower enclosures, all systems connected to construction which collectively collect thousands of companies (the vast majority of the artisan type);
- cast aluminum wheels,
- aluminum containers for drinks and food and coupled for various packaging;
- automotive and transportation parts and components;
- a distribution system consisting of hundreds of traders throughout the country, responsible for the distribution of metal in all forms.
Moreover, it is important to remember that the Italian aluminum system has always been supported by strong commitments in the field of the R&D development of techniques and knowledge; in the years of the true start of the widespread use of aluminum and its alloys, it was already operational before the Second World War, in Italy an ad hoc research center for metallurgy, technology and the development of the use of aluminum and its alloys, the ISML (Istituto Sperimentale Metalli Leggeri) of Novara, which remained alive until the mid-1990s giving a fundamental strength of the industrial system of light metal in Italy and beyond. From the knowledge of ISML was born a devoted magazine such as Alluminio &Leghe in 1988, giving a voice to the complete value chain. Finally, the most recent Italian experience for the support of light metal is Metef, created in 1997 and the first fair in the world dedicated to aluminuim and its alloys, with great advance on the times and with excellent foresight of the great developments in the use of aluminium we are witnessing in recent years. The METEF fair, focused specifically on aluminium and its fundamental technologies extrusion, foundry and pressure die-casting, was created as the showcase of the most advanced approach in the world regarding the uses and processing of light metal. The development path of a relatively new material such as aluminium is naturally conditioned in each country by the coordination between the industrial associations related to the various stages of production, transformation and use of the metal. In my experience, it is essential that the association of light metal producers in a given country organize a continuous and constructive dialogue with the collateral organizations that represent the sectors of foundry castings, window frames and construction, plants and machine construction, metal surface treatments, components of automotive, wheels, welding, recycling activities.
– What is the role of small and medium enterprises in the Italian aluminium industry?
– The companies downstream of the production of metal and alloys constitute on average in Italy 90% of the workforce and over 70% of the turnover of the aluminum system, the average value in the EU is perhaps a little lower because in Italy there is no is primary production. The role of these companies is essential for the growth of employment, especially in the phase of initial development of applications in each country. For this reason, primary metal producers must undertake to transmit the maximum possible amount of metallurgical and technological knowledge to the downstream, as has happened everywhere, through conferences, conventions, support to schools and universities, relations with industrial associations.
– Aluminium alloys open up new prospects for new uses in various industries. In which industries this metal is used most successfully, and where, in your opinion, it doesn’t have a sufficient demand yet?
– The picture of the uses of aluminum in Italy is substantially that of a mature country with regard to the development of light metal, in Italy until a few years ago there was still a lot of use in residential construction, in particular in the windows of civil homes, especially in Central and southern Italy, the construction sector today is in crisis so there is less demand. I believe that the most significant sectors from the point of view of the growth in the uses of metal are construction and packaging, the transport segment and its components are very important, in which the growth possibilities are obviously also linked to an internal demand.
– Aluminium can be safely called a material for "green" economy - this metal is recycled an infinite number of times, and produced using renewable energy sources in Russia. How important is the low carbon footprint of the material from which the product is made to modern Europeans?
– There is a great debate today about materials and eco-sustainability. it is a great moment for the aluminium industry to exploit. The green vision theme raised by Rusal and brought to the attention of the global market is a winning one, because there is growing sensitivity on the part of the main players in the use, such as car manufacturers, on the issue of the carbon footprint of materials and on CBAM compensation mechanisms. The green primary light metal produced with clean energy must be rewarded and its use must be encouraged also through the introduction of new measures in tariff mechanisms and regulations, it is necessary to facilitate the use of clean metal in Europe as much as possible and to curb the invasion of metal produced with polluting techniques and criteria.
– We know your position regarding the reduction of import duties on aluminium in the EU. Can you tell us more about it, how the reduction of duties will affect the aluminium industry in Italy and in the entire European Union?
– The matter is very complex because the rules and regulations underlying international trade are often difficult to interpret, but the basic concept is simple, the European Union has in various countries, in particular Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Poland and so others have,
an important downstream aluminium industry consisting of extrusions, rolling plants, foundries, castings, carpentry, component processing, which need raw metal for their activities; but equally for years there has been the problem of production scarcity in the EU of primary metal, more than 75% of the requirement is missing. It needs to be imported from non-EU countries, but for years the imminence of this serious production deficit has not worried anyone, so much so that millions of tons of metal a year must be imported in EU but we continue to flow it with the additional cost of an import duty weighs on all the aluminum used in the EU and which represents a burden of over one billion euros per year on the value chain and in particular on the downstream. For 22 years, FACE has urgently requested the abolition of this tariff, which has cost our downstream industry more than 20 billion euros in loss of international competitiveness, in investment in research, development and in the creation of new jobs.
– In September, Russian Aluminium Association will host the Second International Forum “Aluminium in Architecture and Construction” (AlumForum 2021), which will become a platform for a dialogue between leading architects and designers and companies in aluminium industry. How do you feel about such events and where do you see the benefits for aluminium producers?
– I saw in the beautiful article we published on A&L last year the interesting cases of architectural applications of aluminium shown at AlumForum 2020. I have been part of the juries of competitions for architectural uses of aluminum in Italy for many years and I know from experience that this type of cultural events have an excellent development effect for new ideas and an increasing use of aluminum in both monumental and residential buildings, industrial buildings, renovations, street furniture and so on. My suggestion for optimizing the success and the impact on the market of AlumForum is to consider not only the large projects, but also the smaller, more modest ones, for example in normal renovated houses where a smart aluminium frame replaces an old realization in wood and solves many problems. The aluminium in the windows is not only more beautiful, but it is comfortable, durable, does not require maintenance, allows huge energy savings because it protects against low and high temperatures, allows soundproofing, and finally is also recyclable. You will present Aluforum 2021 at the Aluminum Italy Russia Forum on June 24th and 25th, I wish you the best of success and I do not exclude the possibility of following the event in Moscow in person.