“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 materialize,” said ACIMIT president Raffaella Carabelli.

“As for the domestic market, 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.”

Positive trend

Based on the survey conducted by ACIMIT, during October-December 2015 the order intake for machinery manufacturers increased by 2% compared to the same period of the previous year, mainly due to a boost in exports to foreign markets. 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%). In Italy, the index had an absolute value of just 46.5 points, an 11% drop over the same quarter for 2014, bucking the trend of the previous two quarters.

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

Promotional initiatives

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

ACIMIT represents an industrial sector comprising around 300 companies and producing machinery for an overall value of about EUR 2.5 billion, with exports amounting to 84% of total sales. Italian textile technology is sold to around 130 countries worldwide.

www.acimit.it