“There’s no doubt that we’ve seen some signs of a recovery during the early part of 2010, as confirmed by increased orders for the second half of 2009, and renewed investments in key markets such as China, India and Brazil. However, we need to wait for consumer spending to pick up again in order to see textile manufacturers return to investing with some continuity,” emphasizes Sandro Salmoiraghi, President of ACIMIT, adding that “macroeconomic figures do not as yet provide a one-way indication of this trend.”
The ACIMIT President then commented on the definitive 2009 figures for Italy’s textile machinery industry, which indicate a 21 per cent drop in production compared to the previous year (amounting to 1,931 million euros). Exports have also fallen by 21 per cent, totalling some 1,506 million euros. In Italy, demand for textile machinery has fallen 27 per cent compared to 2008. The weak internal market is also evident in a drop of imports (-32 per cent), amounting to 359 million euros.
China, India and Turkey are the primary export markets for Italian machinery builders, albeit sales to these countries remaining well below the 2008 levels. Global demand on the whole for textile machinery has been affected by the economic crisis, as well as by a halt in investments.
“Our primary competitors have suffered even greater losses. These figures confirm a general crisis situation: our manufacturers have certainly not been immune, but they have reacted better”, he has added.