Two and a half million euros of losses every day. It is the loss that Ilva is accumulating, for a total that in 2015 approached one billion: 918 million euros, to be precise. Which, added to the 641 million in 2014, the 911 in 2013 and the 620 in 2012 (the year in which the Riva family steel mill was seized following an investigation by the Taranto judiciary) bring the total losses to over 3 billion, i.e. more than 2 million a day, in the four-year period.
The numbers relating to 2015 - the only figure officially declared by the Ilva commissioners is the negative EBITDA (gross operating margin) of 380 million - emerge from the data room accessed by the 25 companies that presented an interest following the ministerial tender which put the business complexes of Ilva spa under extraordinary administration up for sale (since January 2015): 12 are interested in purchasing the entire group and 13 are aiming for the subsidiaries, with the deadline for the presentation of binding offers set for next May 23rd.
The Chinese competition that has brought down the steel market prices weighs above all: the effect of the overcapacity of Chinese producers who have flooded Europe with low-priced steel. Furthermore, in a company with high fixed costs like Ilva, the drop in production also has significant effects on the accounts: and in 2015 production fell by 1,2 million tonnes to 4,6 million (due to environmental Taranto blast furnace 5 was shut down in March and Afo 1 restarted in August).
