The two factories not far away in the province of Verona: Metinvest, the Ukrainian one, almost closed; and Nlmk, the head of the Russian oligarch, is flourishing. The role of Europe
In via Antonio Salieri 22 in Vallese di Oppeano (Verona), production continues at full capacity. In via Antonio Salieri 36 two floors away, he has stopped. 260 people work at number 22, according to information from the company’s website. At number 36, 150 people are on layoffs and the company has brought forward “routine maintenance”.. The systems are cleaned because they are not worth running. But at 22 and 36 through Salieri the same product is made: sheet metal and other steel formats. But there is an even deeper difference between the two factories than one being closed and the other open.
Metinvest and Nlmk
Because the closed one belongs to Metinvest, the Ukrainian group that owns Azovstal in Mariupol and other plants that were destroyed or stolen during the Russian invasion. Rather, the thriving and operating steelworks are owned by Nlmk, one of Russia’s four national metal champions that form the basis of Vladimir Putin’s military-industrial apparatus. So come the consequences of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the heart of an industrial area in the North East. At the moment it is not a story with a happy ending, but an indication of how deep the cynicism is sometimes hidden behind official positions in Europe. Or, at least, how the lobbying power of organized pressure groups is sometimes stronger than the official political line of European governments.
The ownership of the Russian steel mill
Nlmk is owned by Vladimir Lisin, one of the three richest men in Russia with assets estimated by Forbes at 26.6 billion dollars: a logistics magnate as well as steel, not exactly an enemy of the system. On the contrary, a strategic figure of the war economy organized by Vladimir Putin in the last two and a half years. And it is true that his Veronese products serve the European market, not the mother country. But without the cooperation of companies like Nlmk, Russia would not be able to produce missiles at the current rate, the bullets and armored vehicles that are destructive to Ukraine. The war itself is the main explanation why the Russian steel mill works in Verona and the Ukrainian steel mill does not. Of course, the difficult conditions of Italian manufacturing count in part: the highest electricity price in Europe has contributed to a sixteen-month decline in industrial production and many foundries in the country are now resorting to layoffs.
No sanctions
But Nlmk has special conditions. Not only has Europe never put Lisín under sanctions. Even the sanctions on Russian semi-finished steel, from which the sheets are obtained in Verona, were first decided (in 2022, with effect from September this year) and then quietly removed in Brussels: last December, the way out of the Russian steel market. postponed for another four years. This was a decisive step, although it was kept under the shadow of official communications. In the eighth package of sanctions on Russia, in October 2022, that was decided the European Union would gradually close slabs produced in Russia to the point of completely preventing access after September 2024 (the slabs are blocks of semi-finished steel from which the steel works obtain the material in the required structures). But that decision, in a slightly carbonara way, backfired. In the twelfth package of sanctions, dated December 2023, the European Union unanimously removed the sanctions on Russia, and postponed them: now their departure from the European market is fixed for four years and not two months longer.
Costs
And because Russian steel costs 12% less than international steel, via Salieri in Vallese di Oppeano Nlmk has a competitive advantage and Metinvest – which of course does not use Russian steel – is in trouble. This is how the Italian steel mill of lord Putin’s military-industrial apparatus works fine And that of the attacking country, which works on raw materials with international costs and not on the most advantageous of Russia, is forced to withdraw from its staff. In the province of Verona, two blocks away from each other.
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