The overall outcome is affected by the negative performance of the domestic market, as well as by the weakness of foreign demand.
In particular, the collection of orders on the domestic market registered a 28% downturn compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. The absolute value of the index was 123.9, thus still very high despite the reduction.
The pandemic that broke out almost one year ago strongly affected the results of the Italian industry of the sector, which registered double-digit decreases for all main economic indicators in 2020. However, the trend of the year 2021 should be completely different and, even if the ground lost over the last twelve months cannot be fully recovered, the forecasts are really positive.
The figures for July-September 2020 clearly reflect what’s happening in this key segment of the Italian mechanical engineering industry. In general, the orders of machinery and tools for wood and furniture are recording a decreasing trend below expectations, which indicates a partial improvement of the economic situation compared to the previous quarters, strongly impacted by the lockdown.
Amaplast - the national trade association, member of Confindustria, of over 160 Italian manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery, equipment, and moulds - held its annual member Assembly on Wednesday, 16 September 2020 at Villa Borromeo in Cassano d’Adda. The Assembly also provided the opportunity to celebrate Amaplast’s sixtieth anniversary.
The index of orders intake for Italian textile machinery, as compiled by ACIMIT, fell by 47% for the period April-June 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, with orders falling both abroad and in Italy. A 44% decrease in orders was recorded in foreign markets, whereas the domestic market showed a 62% drop compared to the second quarter of the previous year.
Glass processing technologies enjoyed a positive 2019; especially brilliant for hollow glass. Expectations ran high for 2020 and then, the COVID-19 pandemic re-wrote the script. For now, reliable forecasting is impossible.
Waiting for more details to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the industrial economy, based on the analysis of the Acimall Studies office we can illustrate the trend of wood and furniture technology in 2019. Unfortunately, those twelve months were characterized by hardly encouraging signals for the health of our industry, a suffering condition that can only get worse after the dramatic events of the first months of 2020.
Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU: “Our factories are safe places and have reduced labor intensity. Therefore, we should have a green light to resume our production activities right away”. “Health and safety come first, but we should get used to living with Coronavirus, while at the same time guaranteeing work, employment, and production”.
