#DigitalDialogue with Gianmichele Foglia from Metalleghe S.P.A

Gianmichele, thanks for taking out time for us. We’d like to know more about you. For instance, we’re curious to know about how you got into the metals industry?

I started working for the Metalleghe Group in 2007 as responsible for Romanian companies for the production of copper pieces and brass taps (including sales and purchase). Then I was moved to Bosnia to manage our production company of silicon metal and in 2014 I built from Greenfield new production plant of silicon metal doubling the capacity production. From 2021 I became the commercial director of Metalleghe group which includes also ferroalloys .  

What’s Metalleghe particularly known for and how much has Metalleghe gown over the years?

Metalleghe was established in 1980 and has 40 years of experience in ferroalloy. Step by step Metallaghe became one of the leaders in this sector as a trader of ferroalloys, first in Italy then Europe and in last year expanded to Turkey. We are also currently in the process of expanding into new markets 

It’s great to have you onboard as a price committee member. What’s your take on the development of the price of Bulk Ferroalloys in the first half of 2022? 

What I can see now it’s just that market is still quiet, many companies still have materials from last year but I think that the new year should start in March when China will reveal its plan and companies will start new purchases. We are watching some indicators that are telling that prices should rise, due to many factors, internal needs of raw materials in China and price of electricity still in high position. Due to electricity cost, many productions like ferrosilicon and silicon metal should be affected because they are energy-intensive to produce. Therefore I think 2022 will not be so different from 2021. 

Is the metals market (gradually) becoming digital in your opinion? How is Metalleghe tackling digitalisation? 

We are facing a new era, the digital era, I think that it is time that our sector also move in that direction. On this topic also Covid 19 helps to find new solutions to develop our job. A new generation of people is taking place in companies and this is a boost for this digital transition. We as Metalleghe already started to implement internal digitalization with some new software for market analysis.

Who or what is a driving force of digitalisation for the metals markets? 

We saw big changes when Metalshub started to present its solution and we saw that it took time to be used by the players but we need companies like this one to give the boost to the changes. As I already mentioned before that the pandemic forced all players to move the meetings on conference calls.  

To what extent can Metalleghe be considered a promoter of new digital initiatives in the metals industry?

We will always be a promoter and a supporter of any new digital initiatives that will modernize our job.

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