Despite sales increases in Germany (+11.9 percent) and in the United States (+13.6 percent), the first two destination countries for the sector “Made in Italy”, deliveries went drastically down in China (-20.1 percent) and in Russia (-78 percent). Conversely, on the domestic front, the Italian manufacturers saw a five-percent growth in the same period.
In the second quarter of 2016, the index of machine tool orders, recorded a 6.9 percent decrease compared with the same period of the previous year. The index of foreign orders registered a 10.5 percent downturn versus the period April-June 2015, showing the weakness of international demand.
Massimo Carboniero, president of Ucimu-Sistemi Per Produrre said: “First of all, the global outcome is due to the negative performance in the foreign markets, which are having an unstable period. For example, we should consider China who slowed down its growth pace remarkably, but also Russia, where sales of machine tools coming from European markets are strongly penalised by the restrictions imposed by the European Union, to the full advantage of Asian competitors.”
Mr Carboniero added that the survey proves that the Italian market is still alive and lively, contrary to what occurs in some other foreign countries. “Indeed, considering this last result, there have been 12 consecutive quarters of growth with regards to the index of orders which have certainly benefitted from special measures, such as the New Sabatini Law and the Super Depreciation.”
UCIMU asserted that Super Depreciation should be extended to the whole year 2017 (like in France). Mr Carboniero said: “This measure should be applied to all technologically advanced products and/or to those connected with the improvement of one’s own production processes, purchased in Italy with orders received in 2017 and delivered within 30 June 2018; it is not only an instrument useful for stabilising domestic consumption, so that it can come back to pre-crisis levels, but it is also the most appropriate provision to foster the modernisation of industrial plants in our country.”
The average age of machinery installed in the Italian factories is high at almost 13 years, noted a survey by UCIMU at the end of 2014, and the low automation/integration of industrial plants (only 30 percent of the total). Mr Carboniero hoped that Super Depreciation would “encourage the modernisation process of production technologies installed in Italy, so that machines and factories can meet the new requirements of productivity, energy saving, compliance with the safety regulations, digitalisation, automation according to the criteria envisaged by the pattern of Industry 4.0 which the market more and more often requires”.
APMEN Sept 2016, News
