The group also announced the acquisition of a company that operates in the area of renewable energy production
AFV Beltrame, an Italian producer of industrial bars and special profiles, intends to invest 20 million euros in Romanian factories this year. This is reported by SteelOrbis, citing an interview with Carlo Beltrame, Group Business Development Manager and CEO of Donalam's French and Romanian divisions.
The company plans to spend €16 million on the reconstruction of existing steel and rolling mill facilities in Tirgoviste and has planned €4 million for capital investments in Calarasi.
Furthermore, the reconstruction projects planned in these two cities were completed, with more than 30 million euros invested in 2023.
The company's plans for 2024 include continued investment in production capacity and a focus on decarbonization. However, Carlo Beltrame predicts that the current year will not be easier than 2023, especially because the steel industry will still face a series of challenges. These include rising energy prices, the raw materials crisis, low demand, low steel prices and labor shortages.
In 9 months of 2023, AFV Beltrame sold more than 155 thousand tons of construction and special steel and maintained a 24% share of the Romanian domestic market just one year after resuming operations.
Furthermore, at the beginning of February, AFV Beltrame announced the acquisition of Idroelettriche Riunite, an Italian company operating in the renewable energy sector. With this acquisition, the group now owns 12 hydroelectric plants distributed between Veneto and Piedmont.
This transaction marks a significant step in AFV Beltrame's investment journey to develop a decarbonization plan from 2022 onwards.
«With the acquisition and incorporation of Idroelettriche Riunite, we reinforce the rigorous strategy we have developed to reduce CO 2 emissions through the supply of energy from renewable sources… It is important to highlight that the energy produced by the 12 hydroelectric plants will not be sold on the market for speculative purposes , but will be used for internal consumption in our group's production facilities», explained Raffaele Ruella, General Director of the AFV Beltrame Group.
As Compraço previously reported, last summer the AFV Beltrame Group announced that it had suspended production at some of its factories in the European Union amid rising production costs.
