As the war and China’s Covid-19 disruptions rock global supply chains yet again, more than 25,000 workers have already been affected by the economic fallout of the fighting, according to a study, mostly in the highly industrial regions in the northeast of the country. Similar disruptions are happening across Europe.
We are seeing a massive cascading effect on an already limping system of the global supply chain. Multiple industries are reliant on the same raw materials and a large percentage of them are coming out of Russia.
Almost all of Italy’s steel mills have been hit both by higher energy prices and by the scarcity of raw materials such as metal scraps and have already reduced if not halted their activity.
In San Giorgio di Nogaro, on the Adriatic Sea, the current stock of metal slabs will run out in a month and there’s little chance of new shipments from traditional suppliers in Mariupol, Ukraine. Even where production continues, warehouses will soon be empty.
Near the northeastern city of Udine, The car industry has also been hit. At Magneti Marelli Automotive Lighting in Tolmezzo, 800 of 930 workers have been put on temporary leave after Leone, a Ukrainian supplier of wiring, halted deliveries.
The price of gold skyrocketed and the impact has been felt in the centuries-old goldsmithry district of Arezzo, in Tuscany, after orders from Russia stopped.
According to Fim-Cisl secretary general Roberto Benaglia, this crisis comes on top of the upheaval brought by the green transition in sectors such as car- and steel-making. For the Italian economy and society the outcome could be “explosive” if it is not properly managed with government support policies and re-industrialization projects.
