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Published on: Tuesday, Tue, 17 Jul 2018 ● 4 Min Read
Cinisello Balsamo, 12 December 2018 – The year 2018 has been record-breaking for the Italian industry manufacturing machine tools, robots and automation systems, which registered double-digit increases for all economic indicators. The year 2019 will instead be characterised by a general stability. This is to sum up what was illustrated by Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU-Sistemi Per Produrre, the Italian machine tools, robots and automation systems manufacturers' association, during the usual end-year press conference.
As shown by the preliminary year’s data processed by the Studies Dept of UCIMU-Sistemi Per Produrre, in 2018 production grew to 6,900 million euro, highlighting a 13.4% upturn compared with the previous year. This is the fifth consecutive year of growth and, in terms of absolute values, this is the new record of the Italian industry of the sector.
The outcome was due both to the excellent performance of the deliveries by Italian manufacturers in the domestic market, increased by 21.1% to 3,270 million euro, and to the positive trend of exports, up by 7.2% to 3,630 million euro.
Based on the ISTAT data processing by UCIMU, in the first eight months of the year (latest available survey), the main destination countries for the Made in Italy products of the sector were the following: Germany 246 million euro (+11.6%); China 237 million euro (+7.1%); United States 223 million euro (+9.5%); Poland 143 million euro (+49.8%) and France 135 million euro (-4.6%).
Thanks to these increases, Italy strengthened its role in the international scenario, where it stood out not only for the competence expressed by the industries of the sector, measured by the production and export data, but also for the dynamism of its demand, supported and stimulated by the incentive provisions for competitiveness, such as Super- and Hyper-Depreciation, included in the Industry/Enterprise 4.0 programmes.
In particular, in 2018, machine tool, robot and automation consumption in Italy grew by 25.9% to 5,620 million euro.
Italian users’ propensity to invest in new technology and also in digital products, pushed Italian manufacturers to focus on the domestic market, as proven by the reduction of the export/production ratio, which changed from 55.6% in 2017 to 52.6% in 2018.
Experiencing a non-favourable general atmosphere, in 2019, however the Italian industry of the sector should confirm its 2018 performances, enjoying a positive trend with regard to deliveries in the foreign markets, expected to increase. A clear slowdown is shown by the domestic market, whose growth trend seems to have lost the momentum we were used to over the last few years.
Output will grow to 7,040 million euro (+2%) driven by exports that are expected to grow by 5% and will reach 3,810 million euro. Consumption, i.e. the demand by Italian users, will stop at 5,630 million euro (+0.2%). The stationary situation of the domestic market will affect both the deliveries of Italian manufacturers, which will go down to 3,230 million euro (-1.2%) and imports that will attain 2,400 million euro (+2.1%). The export/production ratio will gain a percentage point, amounting to 54.1%.
Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU-Sistemi Per Produrre, commented: “We are satisfied with the outcome of 2018: the year is closing with excellent results, collected both in Italy and abroad. Moreover, considering the sales on the whole, i.e., not only of machines, but also by adding the production of parts, tools and numerical controls, which are not included in the total of Italian machine tools, we can say that the turnover exceeded 9 billion euro.”
“For 2019, although we are confident about maintaining the results of 2018, we notice an evident slowdown of investments in new machines by Italian users. Of course, we can understand that the growth we were used to cannot continue uninterruptedly with that pace and intensity. However, it is important to keep in mind that a recent survey conducted by FONDAZIONE UCIMU and EUMETRA shows that only 50% of the Italian metalworking and engineering enterprises made investments in the period between the year 2017 and the first part of 2018.”
“For this reason – went on Massimo Carboniero – it would be necessary to continue on the way already traced by innovation, thus confirming, also for 2019, the measures that have worked well till now.”
