The inaugural Conference, 'The energy transition and international competitiveness for the Italian ceramic industry', opened Cersaie 2024

Moderated by the journalist Monica Maggioni, together with the President of Confindustria Ceramica, Augusto Ciarrocchi, contributions were given by the President of BolognaFiere, Gianpiero Calzolari, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the President of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini, the Regional Councillor for Economic Development and Green Economy, Work, Training and International Relations, Vincenzo Colla, the CEO of SIMEST, Regina Corradini D’Arienzo, the Director of the Edison Foundation, Marco Fortis and the Chairman of the ICE Agency, Matteo Zoppas. 

After the initial greeting of the BolognaFiere President, Gianpiero Calzolari, Augusto Ciarrocchi - President of Confindustria Ceramica - reviewed the downturn in the Italian ceramic market. "The Italian ceramic industry continues to be affected by the serious crises persisting at international level and by the lack of certainty in the national construction sector. For ceramic tiles, but also for other sectors of ours, with volumes that are confirmed to be in line with the first half of last year, foreign turnover fell overall by around 4%. The Italian market shows a more marked reduction, with a turnover down in the order of 6% against stable volumes. 
We are an industrial system taken as a model in the world, which today, however, seriously risks delocalisation due to a whole series of factors, such as the ETS system and the increases in costs that this entails, and includes the required improvement in legal certainty in the tax field and in the guarantee of completion times for infrastructures, which have the effect of discouraging our companies from continuing to invest in our territories. They say we are ‘hard to kill’, but it would be better to say ‘hard to decarbonize’ because, in effect, it is very easy to ‘kill’ a sector with policies that are correct in their objective, but wrong in substance.
After 20 years, the ETS system needs a serious verification of its effectiveness taking more account of facts rather than opinions. We are in favour of an energy transition that holds together sustainable development, budget balances and the safeguarding of quality employment that characterizes our territories.
It is essential that politics imposes high objectives, but at the same time leaves aside ideological approaches and the making of ‘preconceived’ choices, without verifying whether a solution is rational and appropriate for all sectors and without considering the effects of decisions taken on the possibility of companies staying in increasingly competitive markets”.
“One theme not yet touched on – Augusto Ciarrocchi concluded – is the ‘Made in’ question. It’s unbelievable that in the European market there is no regulation regarding informing consumers of product origin. Japan and the United States do this, while Europe allows products to enter without identifying the origin of the goods preventing, therefore, the consumer from making a relative reasoned choice. I believe that this is an extremely important point for safeguarding the competitiveness of Italian ceramics and, more generally, of Italian manufacturing”.

The international context was described by the Director of the Edison Foundation, Marco Fortis, who explained that the situation appears to be somewhat strange, given that the manufacturing industry has never been so competitive. "Thanks to this great increase in competitivity, Italy today is the fourth exporter in the world and has developed multiform specialisations despite the global economic slowdown”. 
With regards to decarbonization, Fortis pointed out that in her first mandate Ursula Von der Leyen set out a series of environmental objectives, which can be shared in terms of the general approach, and which have led to the fact that the first twenty countries in the world with sustainable human development belong to the European Union. There are very ambitious targets for reducing CO2 that imply the risk of achieving them via a de-industrialisation of Europe that would do no good to the continent itself, if the production of energy-intensive sectors were decentralized to areas with more limited levels of environmental and social protection. Europe’s energy transition plan does not take sufficient account of the importance of European manufacturing. The 27-nation European Union has a trade surplus with the rest of the world of around 38 billion euros, with the tiles industry alone accounting for 15% of this surplus: it’s a value which is threatened by the energy transition objectives, but most of all by the times and ways according to which the energy transition is to be accomplished. This – the economist continued – would be a disastrous strategic error. The Draghi Report indicated the path to take, but with the decisions made we don't realize that we are doing harm with our own hands to traditional manufacturing, to flagship sectors like Italian tiles, which instead should absolutely be taken into consideration, also for the contribution that they give from a trade balance point of view. 

“The people in our territory – Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Ecological Transition, underlined – have the know-how and manual skills that give strength to Italy’s economic system, enabling it to stand among the G7 countries. They are an important asset and a key point of strength that must not be lost. 
We have to continue to maintain our commitment to sustainability, even though our country emits only 0.7% of the total missions of the planet, aware that the development of continents like Africa will worsen the general situation. We have to persevere with the objective of correcting distortions, as in the case of automobiles, in which the construction of electric engines, simpler than endothermic ones, is jeopardizing the survival of entire subcontracting supply chains.
We have almost completely replaced the importation of Russian gas – the Minister of the Environment continued – with supplies from Algeria and Azerbaijan. I’m not so concerned about the remaining 5% or generally about the quantities necessary for our country – and this is thanks to the fact that from January 2025 the regasification terminal off the coast of Ravenna will come into operation – but rather, the level of prices. In the event that Russia decides to interrupt the flow of gas to Ukraine in the autumn, European gas prices could rocket.
The Regional Administrative Court (‘TAR’) has annulled the Plan for the Sustainable Energy Transition of Eligible Areas (‘PiTESAI’). The gas release programme requires the definition of a new path in which producers, on the one hand, and large consumers on the other hand, get round the table, together with the Minister and Confindustria, to find an agreement.  
For the future – Gilberto Pichetto Fratin concluded – positive indications are emerging from the research in Ravenna on the capture of CO2, an experimental technology that can help along the path to decarbonization”.  

The Councillor for Economic Development and Green Economy, Labour, Training and International Relations for the Emilia-Romagna Region, Vincenzo Colla, pointed out how this region is making incredible investments in energy efficiency and autonomy. Starting from the regasification terminal in Ravenna, a project shared between the Government and the territory with the main objective of helping the entire country. The Emilia-Romagna Region has decided to invest in an energy system which considers all renewable sources, from wind to photovoltaic, from biogas and biomethane to hydrogen, which can contribute to providing solutions also to an energy-intensive sector like ceramics.
The question of logistics is also crucial for the ceramics industry: the Campogalliano-Sassuolo link road is a project within the industrial plan of the Brenner motorway and we understand that an expression of interest is expected by the end of the year. To foster an increase in competitiveness, however, it’s essential for Europe to change: to focus on investments, and not only tariffs, as Draghi points out, but most of all to intervene to calm prices, because it’s unacceptable to maintain an energy exchange in Amsterdam that only engages in financial speculation without considering the real economy”.

The CEO of SIMEST, Regina Corradini D'Arenzio, declared: "The ceramics sector fully represents Italian excellence in its capacity to innovate processes and products with virtuous effects on competitiveness and on not only ecological, but also social sustainability, given the impact that it is able to have on the local community by virtue of the strength of the district.
Italy, world leader in the production of high-quality ceramics, records exports equal to 80% of the total production, standing in first place among exporter countries. SIMEST, the company in the CDP group, supports ceramics exporting enterprises – and the relative supply chain – both through facilitated financing in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, supporting their innovative and sustainable investments, and as a minority institutional partner in their investments abroad.
We will continue to provide our financial support also for the growth of human capital in companies thanks also to a measure such as the ‘Africa Fund’ as part of the Mattei plan than allows enterprises to train young Africans to be employed not only in Africa but also in Italian factories.
In addition, we are considering other new initiatives which, among other things, are able to support energy-intensive enterprises which have been heavily penalised in global markets given the impact of higher costs".

Matteo Zoppas, President of the ICE Agency, declared: "Trade fair platforms are proving to be one of the major tools for promoting Made in Italy and development, especially among small and medium enterprises that are embarking on a path of internationalisation for the first time and need to make contact with professional buyers. We enable Italian entrepreneurs to participate in collective exhibitions at the major foreign fairs and, at the same time, we bring international operators to events in Italy to carry out business matching. 
The ICE Agency has 87 offices in 74 countries to which companies can refer to have necessary information and support in relation to the country and market of interest: contacts with potential customers, legal and customs assistance and for the fulfilment of bureaucratic obligations, besides the solution of any critical issues. 
As highlighted in an ISTAT survey, companies that refer to the Agency have experienced an increase in exports of 5% compared to those who have not turned to us. The ceramics sector for architecture and bathroom furnishing is currently experiencing some difficulties: exports in 2023 are down by around 15% compared to 2022, but there has been a slight recovery in the first months of 2024, however, to -4%.
We need to close ranks, working together with the rest of the country system, with SACE, SIMEST, CDP, in close coordination with the ‘Diplomacy of growth’ promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation which also has the task of creating the right conditions for the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy to be more competitive.
The message launched by the President of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini during the latest General Assembly, inviting a phase of dialogue and constructive collaboration with the Government, is also very important”.

Emanuele Orsini, President of Confindustria, after having underlined the Association’s sympathy for the populations affected by the flood in Romagna, said that “we have to make Europe understand that it’s necessary to pay attention to our enterprises. For us, the ceramic industry is an example of excellence and we could not fail to be here to support it: it’s essential to support this industry which is so important for the country, a leader of our Made in Italy. This sector knows very well how central the environment is, having invested 2 billion euros in the last few years to arrive at 100% recycling of water and production waste. They are very significant numbers; it’s an environmentally conscious sector and therefore deserves recognition”.
“It’s important that the 800 billion euros necessary for the energy transition are not taken from enterprises, which are already in difficulty, and a time schedule is established”, the Confindustria President continued. “It is essential to have technological neutrality as an objective, taking care to safeguard Italian manufacturing and subcontracting supply chains. We also need the ceramics industry to be competitive with other countries and Europe needs to make decisions in order for this to be the case. With regards to competitiveness, we cannot afford to lose terrain, considering that last year 63% of Indian ceramics sales were to Europe, that the cost of electricity is at a price which is 40% above Europe and that we have to buy electricity produced by French nuclear plants”. 
“Cutting the tax wedge is one of our main requests to the Government”, Emanuele Orsini concluded. “We need to give spending power to those who work in our companies. We believe that this is the way forward and it’s one of the first things that we have asked of the Government. We believe that the ‘Piano casa’ (Housing Plan) for young people is also a fundamental theme, because there is a need, especially for new employees, to find a home at a sustainable cost. We have a social duty and believe it is right to lend a hand on these issues. We have set up initial discussions with the Government and we think this can provide some support, especially in a number of cities where the problem is particularly serious”.