Milan - The end of 2015 brought mixed fortunes the for Italian textile machinery manufacturers with a decline in domestic sales offset by an increase in overseas business.

The survey conducted by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, during October-December 2015 showed that 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).

Growth was only evident in foreign markets where the index registered an absolute value of 99.3 points (+3%). After two consecutive months of growth, the performance of the domestic market index was particularly disappointing. The market 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.

Commenting on the latest figures, ACIMIT president Raffaella Carabelli emphasised that it was 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," she said. "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.”

Italian export figures, updated to the first ten months of 2015, confirmed the current positive market trend. “We witnessed a recovery in the Chinese market for the second half of 2015,” Carabelli said. "Generally speaking, the Asian markets account for growth in our sales (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam).”

In its latest statement, ACIMIT also said it aimed to further push its internationalization efforts in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Development and Italian Trade Agency.

The aim is to carry out promotional initiatives for Italy’s textile machinery sector in at least 20 countries including areas of 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.

 

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