Milan - Orders for Italian textile machinery industry plunged in the second quarter of 2023 with sales in both the domestic and export markets slowing considerably.

The orders index collated by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers showed that sales were down 30% compared to the April – June 2022 period while the index stood at 85.1 points (basis 2015=100) in absolute terms.

New orders were down 21% domestically and 31% on overseas markets with the absolute value of the index on foreign markets settling at 81.9 points, while in Italy it stood at 117.2 points.

The latest figures also show that new orders for the second quarter amounted to 4.1 months of guaranteed production and that the use of production capacity by Italian manufacturers was 70% for the first half of 2023. This percentage is expected to remain stable for the second half of the year.

“The orders index for the second quarter clearly shows a decline in new orders both in Italy and abroad compared to the previous year," said ACIMIT president Marco Salvadè. "The decline that usually precedes an event such as ITMA, the international textile machinery exhibition held last June in Milan, however, is part of a negative trend that has been going on for several quarters.

"Uncertainty appears to be weighing heavily especially on markets abroad, where foreign trade statistics updated to the first quarter of 2023 are marked by a slackening in Italian sales in some important reference markets, such as Turkey, China, the United States and Pakistan.

“Feedback from over 400 Italian companies that took part in ITMA is positive. It’s now necessary for the many contacts made during the event to materialise and for the demand for machinery in the main textile machinery markets to resume a path towards growth.”