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[July 2002]
ACIMAC Unveils 10th National Statistical Survey - Concerns Over Traditional Markets
The 10th National Statistical Survey of the Italian ceramic plant and machinery manufacturing industry - issued by ACIMAC (Modena, Italy) - shows that sales to the Italian ceramic tile industry have fallen and that the map of the major export markets has been largely redrawn. However, the greatest concern is for the general scenario of this sector and the uncertainty of the world's economy during the current year.After closures, setting up of new companies and consortia, mergers and takeovers, the number of Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers operating in 2001 totalled 179 - 11 fewer than in 2000. The fall was partly due to a number of companies shifting towards a sub-supply or supply activity to sectors outside the ceramic industry, a common tendency during periods of slowdown in demand from the ceramic sector. As a result, the number of employees (6,476 in 2001) also fell, by 701 (9.5%).
The sector's total turnover fell by 3.2%, closing 2001 with 1.523 billion euro, a reduction of 50.8 million euro in absolute terms. The decrease was due entirely to the Italian market, where the value of ceramic machinery sales fell from 541.5 million euro in 2000 to 498.8 million euro in 2001 - a reduction of 9.5%.
By contrast, exports remained virtually unchanged compared to 2000, with a turnover of 1.033 billion euro, up a fraction at 0.1%. The share of total turnover attributable to the domestic market therefore fell to 32.2%, whereas the export share rose to 67.8%.
The tile industry is still easily the largest client sector, accounting for 82.2% of total turnover. Sales in the Italian tile sector fell substantially - by 11.6%. Exports did improve, but only by 2.8%.
The other main sectors all registered a dip in sales - heavy clay machinery by 8.8% (where, again, the greatest decrease was in the Italian market with exports holding strong); sanitaryware machinery by 11.5%; and machinery for refractories by 39%.
A positive performance was recorded by tableware machinery (up 10.7%) and various other ceramic machinery (up 34.5%) but these sectors only account for 2.33% and 0.5% respectively of total Italian produced ceramic machinery sales.
ACIMAC Chairman Franco Stefani noted: "The substantial stability of turnover in 2001 has simply postponed by a year the fears of a significant fall in turnover, which will inevitably be confirmed at the end of 2002. The fall can currently be estimated at 8-10%. We are concerned about the situation in the Italian, Spanish and Brazilian markets, in other words our three most important markets. Although other areas are showing positive signs of recovery, they represent very low figures unable to compensate for much larger contractions.
"It is absolutely essential for the machinery suppliers to consolidate and expand their presence in other markets, which can only be done through a major commitment to technological innovation. To achieve this objective, however, the sector must press on with the aggregation and industrial concentration processes that have been in progress for several years now. This way, companies that are too small and in general insufficiently capitalised can acquire the 'critical mass' needed to achieve such a complex objective."
ENDS