ROME: The Italian plastics and rubber machinery industry saw improvement in 2014, according to trade association Assocomaplast, which released annual figures in a statement headed “The sector is healthy: signs all positive in 2014”. The value of production for Italian plastics and rubber machinery, equipment and moulds improved by 2.6% from €3.90bn in 2013 to €4.00bn in 2014, according to estimates based on information from the group’s member companies.
“Progress in exports maintained a constant pace to the end of the year, sustaining Italian machinery manufacturers in a period where the domestic market showed only timid signs of recovery in the very recent months,” said Assocomaplast.
Plastics processors in Italy only showed a “propensity towards investment” in new machinery in the fourth quarter of 2014, it said.
Surveying member companies about their expectations for 2015, it said there was “a generally optimistic outlook among approximately one third of the interviewed companies, who expect further increases in orders and turnover in the current half year”. Around one-third of Italian machinery firms also expect the export share to increase in 2015.
In 2014, exports once again supported Italian machinery suppliers that have been contending with a weak domestic market since the financial crisis that started in 2009. There was 4.9% growth in exports from €2.56bn in 2013 to €2.68bn in 2014.
Imports of machinery also increased by 8.5% from €590m in 2013 to €640m in 2014. But Assocomaplast noted a positive trade balance that has now passed €2bn.
North America’s share of Italian machinery exports also increased in 2014, rising from 9.8% in 2013 to 10.9% last year. There was particularly strong year-on-year growth of 21.5% in exports to the US. This meant the US became the second biggest export destination for Italian machinery in 2014, still some way behind Germany but surpassing France, where a 10.4% annual decline relegated it to third position.
The Asia/Oceania region was only marginally higher, accounting for 16.7% of Italian machinery exports in 2014 (16.6% in 2013). Assocomaplast said an upswing in supplies to Chinese converters – as well as to Vietnamese, Indonesian and Indian customers – compensated for a slowdown in exports to South Korea, Japan and Thailand.
The group said a decline in the Central/South American market – 7.3% share in 2014, down from 9.0% in 2013 – was mainly explained by an 11% fall in exports to Brazil last year.
Africa’s share of Italian exports also slipped from 5.8% in 2013 to 5.1% in 2014.
Assocomaplast highlighted export value changes for the main machinery types. Blow moulding machines and flexographic printing machines increased by 11.6% and 11.1%, respectively, in 2014. Extruders remained essentially stable compared with the previous year while injection moulding machines showed declined by 16%.
The group said moulds continued to perform well, especially injection moulds, representing over 28% of total exports for the sector.
Assocomaplast pointed to the Plast exhibition, taking place in Milan on 5-9 May this year, as an opportunity for machinery exhibitors to appeal to visitors, whose numbers are expected to be higher than in 2012 when Plast last took place.
