Foreign orders lift Italian machinery industry fortunes

Agrowing orders index for Italian machinery companies in foreign markets, while on the domestic front the positive orders trend is hit by a setback over the past six months. Said Raffaella Carabelli, President of ACIMIT: “2015 has closed well overall in terms of orders, with a growing sense of confidence for 2016.”

The orders index for textile machinery grew during the fourth quarter of 2015, mainly due to a boost in exports to foreign markets. Based on the survey conducted by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, during October-December 2015 the order intake for machinery manufacturers increased by 2 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year. The value of the index for October-December 2015 stood at 89.1 points (2010 basis = 100).

However, growth was observed in foreign markets only, where the index registered an absolute value of 99.3 points (+3 per cent). In Italy, the index had an absolute value of just 46.5 points, an 11 per cent drop over the same quarter for 2014, bucking the trend of the previous two quarters.

ACIMIT President Raffaella Carabelli commented the index data as follows: “I believe it’s important to have closed out 2015 with an overall increase in the order intake. This is a positive result that may be further strengthened over the first half of 2016 if the numerous contacts confirmed at ITMA 2015 materialise. As for the domestic market,” continues Carabelli, “we weren’t expecting this sort of setback after two positive quarters. However, the year-end trade fair has confirmed the many signs of recovery, even for Italy, which now need to be verified in early 2016.”

Meanwhile, Italian export figures, updated to the first ten months of 2015, confirm the current positive trend under in orders. “We witnessed a recovery in the Chinese market for the second half of 2015,” states ACIMIT’s president, “and generally speaking, the Asian markets account for growth in our sales (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam).”

In 2016, with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development and Italian Trade Agency, ACIMIT aims to further push its internationalisation efforts.

Around 20 countries/markets will be touched by promotional initiatives favouring the penetration of Italy’s textile machinery sector. Among these are projects in sub-Saharan Africa and Iran, areas which, as ACIMIT points out, Italian businesses are approaching for the first time or after years of partial closure.