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[July 2009]
Italian Ceramic Machinery Sales Figures 2008
The 17th Statistical Survey on Italian ceramic machinery sales conducted by Acimac (Baggiovara, MO, Italy) has revealed a turnover of €1.825.5 billion, 5.8% down on 2007. The strong performance during the first few months of the year counterbalanced the downturn in the last quarter. There are concerns regarding the strength of the sector during the current year. A further fall in turnover is expected.
Exports have fallen slightly and account for 73.9% of total turnover. The European Union, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are the main markets. The Italian market was down by 13.6%.
Exports remained close to 2007 levels, with just a small drop of 2.7%.
The turnover generated by the domestic market actually dropped to €476.5 million (-13.6%). This fall was due to the contraction in the two largest client sectors, ceramic tile and brick manufacturers, which were badly hit by the stagnation in the building and construction sector.
Acimac said that the Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers’ leading position around the world is also confirmed by the fact that the pie-chart for the continental markets continues to be divided into fairly even slices. Europe is the leading market with a 39.3% share, followed by Asia, including the Middle East, at 32.8%, America at 16.4% and Africa at 11.3%.
Analysing the geographical areas covered by the study in greater detail, it was found that the European Union remains the leading export market for Italian ceramic technology at €344.1 million (25.5% of the total) in spite of a 12 percentage point fall over 2007. Once again in 2008 the second largest market consisted of countries in the Middle East, which saw a 7.2% fall to €221.5 million (16.4% of the total).
Eastern European countries were in third place with €186.6 million, 14.3% up on 2007, and accounting for 13.8% of total turnover. The African continent has risen to fourth place with €152.1 million (up 7.2% on 2007) and an 11.3% share of the total.
With €144.8 million (+1.4%) South America accounts for 10.7%, down one place to fifth position amongst the leading export markets for Italian technology. Countries classified as ‘Others Asia’, including India, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, rose by one place. These countries also showed the best growth performance: up 28.3% to €124.9 million (9.3% of the total).
Exports to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong dropped by 8.4% to €96.0 million, accounting for 7.1% of total exports. North America on the other hand suffered a sharp downturn: -20.5% to €76.4 million (5.7% of total exports). As usual, Oceania was in last position with a turnover of €2.9 million, 71.4% down on the previous year.
“Our world leadership position is unchallenged, as is our companies’ ability to develop innovative solutions for customers and end users. This remains a crucial factor as it is the only way for us to overcome this difficult period,” commented Acimac’s Chairman, Pietro Cassani. “Our companies are concentrating their efforts on research and development in the certainty that we will emerge from the crisis stronger than before.”
www.acimac.it
ENDS