The Metinvest-Danieli project for the reconstruction of the Piombino steel hub in Italy has once again found itself at the forefront of discussions among local Italian institutions.
As reported by SteelOrbis Between 2025 and early 2026, the Metinvest Adria new steel plant project at the former Lucchini plant in Piombino has made significant progress on the institutional front, although it has not yet entered the operational construction phase.
The Italian Steel Manufacturers Association Federacciai has already expressed its skepticism about the need to build a new government-supported center for the production of flat rolled products. As the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported in November 2025, Federacciai President Antonio Gozzi stated: "Besides the former Ilva, another problem is Piombino. We will not agree to build a factory that will compete with the former Ilva for public money: 300 million euros under the program agreement[Accordo di Programma]plus SACE guarantees on loans amount to 1.5 billion euros in state aid."
According to Federaccai, the creation of a new electric smelting unit will cause an acute shortage of scrap in the Italian domestic market, which will lead to a further increase in scrap prices.
In contrast to this position, Codacons (Coordination of Associations for the Protection of the Environment and the rights of users and consumers) announced on January 27 that it had filed a complaint against Federacciai with the Antimonopoly Authority and the European Commission in order to "evaluate the initiation of an investigation to assess the possible existence of abuse of a dominant position and, if necessary, transfer the documents to other competent authorities," according to the a press release.
Codacons emphasizes that the Metinvest Adria project has not only received the support of institutions, trade unions and professional associations, but has also been formalized by the signing of three fundamental agreements.
In addition, according to Codacons, the project will have a positive impact on the Italian national roll production in order to reduce Italy's dependence on imports (which amounted to 11.5 million tons, an increase of 148,000 tons or 1.3 percent year-on-year), as well as reduce CO2 emissions from roll production, which will amount to one twentieth of the emissions from blast furnace production.
Codacons stated: "Federacciai seems to be trying to protect the advantageous position of several EDP plants instead of protecting the interests of 30,000 supply chain participants and, consequently, all consumers who will be able to benefit from greater competition when the Piombino plant starts production. Competitive and good
