Speech by Dr. Stefano Di Primio at the ACIMAC 2022 General Assembly
At the conference on the supply chain organized within the ACIMAC General Assembly, Stefano Di Primio, Commercial Director of the Ceramics Sector of Minerali Industriali, spoke, presenting the scenario of raw materials for the sector by carrying out a detailed analysis of national and international supplies.
Prof. Massimiliano Serati, Director of the research division of Liuc Business School who, starting from the current scenario, characterized by frequent turbulence in the markets, offered ideas on how to organize companies to manage them; Dr. Alberto Tremolada, coordinator task force A.E.S.C. Erma (European Raw Material Alliance) which instead provided an overview of the scenario but with a practical and operational focus on the situation of the industrial supply chain; and Dr. Alessandro Marangoni, CEO of Althesys Srl, who addressed the issue of energy supplies.
FOCUS PROCUREMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
The outbreak of the war in Ukraine has brought difficult times for the 133 companies and the almost 19 thousand employees who make up the ceramic sector (if the supply chain is also included – color factories, glazes, machinery -, the figures rise to over 300 production companies and 35 thousand employed, a number that at least doubles considering the related activities).
For Italy, the continuity of these supplies is essential to guarantee both the activity of the ceramic companies, already tormented by expensive energy, and the employment that they ensure directly in the related industries and in the production and logistics districts, in particular in Emilia-Romagna.
The biggest risk to date is that of having a demand in the ceramic market that remains unsatisfied due to lack of supply. And the Emilian district, which is worth 5 out of a national production of 6.1 billion euros and exports 85% of turnover, is the one most in crisis.
Starting from the 2021 data which recorded 2.1 M/tons of clays and kaolins imported from Ukraine, Dr. Di Primio presented a hypothesis of evolution of the raw material supply market for the two-year period 2022-2023.
The need for diversification of supplies brings with it the need to rethink a redistribution of supplies, increasing imports mainly from already active countries such as Turkey and Portugal, and activating new ones such as India, Malaysia and Argentina.
This choice obviously brings with it critical points regarding both the quality of the alternative raw material, the production capacity of the companies, and the logistical aspect, from an economic and infrastructural point of view.
A new challenge therefore for this sector, which we at Minerali Industriali, as direct interested parties, try to seize in order to evaluate alternative solutions and get closer to new countries that have the potential to offer.