Presented at the Ice headquarters the 1st October it is an information and knowledge tool able to guide the Italian enterprises and help them be more competitive.

To verify Italy’s positioning on the international markets now there is another instrument. It is the "Strategic observatory on raw materials", realized in collaboration with the Masi Foundation that was presented the 1st October in Rome, at the Ice headquarters.
The Report is an information and knowledge tool on the trends of raw material (but not gas and petrol) that influence the competitiveness of the industrial districts and allows to better program Ice’s advertising interventions on the markets that are the main supply sources for our Country, informs and Ice press release. The Observatory is part moreover of the Program, financed by the Ministry for economic development to contribute to the debate on Italy’s positioning in the international markets.
The presentation was opened by Ice president Umberto Vattani and by the president of the Masi Foundation, Beniamino Quintieri. The contents of the Report were then illustrated by university professor Giorgia Giovannetti of the University of Florence, by Luigi Bidoia, partner of Prometeia SpA and, by the Leader Area Industrial Collaboration and Relationships with the International Organisms of Ice ICE, Marinella Loddo. The Undersecretary to Economic Development, Adolfo Urso closed the speeches.
"The current one - Quintieri explains - is a context in which the demand of raw materials has increased at growing rhythms. A situation due to the force of the Asian economic development. Such availability of raw materials made it impossible for the Italian enterprises to be competitive on the international markets, has now become an important strategic factor, that demands the full attention of all the interested subjects, be it publics or private".
The Italian industry, emphasizes the note, for the most part continues to be a transformation industry that incorporates its knowledge in working raw materials. So the Italian enterprises, that import the majority of the raw materials that they transform, now face high uncertainty, soaring prices and sometimes a real deficiency in the offer.
In the zero number of this Strategic Observatory on Raw materials, they analyzed in particular the problems of supplying and prices for three industries: wood and paper, non metal mineral and iron minerals. The Observatory gives different reading keys for the different industries, underlining that, also in a period of price tensions like the current one, processes like the recovery of materials (as in macerate paper) can fix a ceiling price to the substitutes materials.
In synthesis, the analysis developed at industry level shows that, is detailed in the note, the Italian enterprises in order to remain competitive must monitor the prices of the raw materials that they use, avoid to get into difficulty in finding them and invest in the research of substitutes, possibly with low environmental impact and available locally. The diversification of the supply sources becomes more and more important for the entire Country, in order to offer to the single enterprises (or their groups) adequate instruments to condition the trade relations.
This number of the Observatory, introduces also some study cases, through which, concluded Quintieri "we wanted to contribute to underline the main areas of vulnerability of the Italian industry facing uncertainties and price tensions”.