March 9, 2023: Ecobat’s suspension of lead production at its Paderno and Marcianise plants in Italy is continuing into its sixth month — and the facilities are not expected to restart soon, Batteries International has learned.
The company suspended production at the secondary lead smelting plants from October 1 in the wake of “extreme energy prices and other excessively burdensome costs” in the country.
An Ecobat spokesperson confirmed on March 8 that production was still suspended, but did not comment further on the lengthy outage.
Ecobat said ahead of the suspension last year that it would constantly monitor and assess the situation and the evolution of the market, as well as possible governmental support measures.
The company said that owing to the “unprecedented commercial environment in Italy”, it would incur substantial financial losses if it continued its operations without the suspension. However, various other non-lead activities at both plants would continue as needed, Ecobat said.
Paderno and Marcianise have an aggregate capacity of 80,000 tonnes of lead per year.