INTRODUCTION
The Italian packaging machinery industry is made up of 588 companies employing 27,906 people and generating a turnover of 6,197 million euros, of which 80.7 percent is earned in international markets and 19.3 percent in the domestic market.
This is the picture that emerges from the fourth National Statistical Survey of the Italian packaging machinery manufacturing sector conducted by the Research Department of Ucima, the Italian national trade association.
In 2015, the industry maintained the previous year’s turnover levels and confirmed its position as one of the most dynamic Italian sectors and the top capital goods industry in terms of total turnover and above all its contribution to total exports.
Last year, sales in international markets saw a slight fall in volumes (-0.9 percent), mainly due to the slowdowns in a number of important markets such as Brazil, China and Russia.
However, this trend was offset by strong performances in other markets and the final result remained above five billion euros.
ANALYSIS
The top geographical areas of destination for exports were the European Union, which accounted for 35.6 percent of total turnover, Asia in second place with 22.7 percent of the total and non-EU Europe in third place with 11.6 percent.
The United States, France and Germany remain the top three individual countries, followed by China, Turkey, UK, Spain, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
Domestic Italian sales continue to show a positive trend, amounting to 1,194 million euros in 2015, 1.9 percent up on 2014.
In the domestic market, the highest growth was in sales to the pharmaceutical industry (+23.3 percent). In absolute terms, food remained the leading sector with a turnover of 434 million euros, followed by beverages with 276 million euros and pharmaceuticals with 196 million euros.
The analysis of the sector by turnover size class reveals a clear dominance of small companies. Companies with turnovers below five million euros accounted for 66 percent of the total, but generated just 9.9 percent to the sector’s total turnover.
Companies with turnovers above 25 million euros made up just 7.8 percent of the total but generated the largest share (65.7 percent) of total turnover.
2016 FORECAST
“The slowdown in a number of key markets for our technologies continued in the first three months of 2016,” said Ucima Chairman, Enrico Aureli. “These widespread downturns, only partly offset by strong performances in other countries, resulted in a 10 percent fall in our exports.”
“However, orders rose during the first four months of the year,” continued Aureli. “We are therefore confident that we will succeed in improving on the results achieved at the end of 2015.”
According to the Ucima Research Department’s forecast of world demand for packaging machinery (Cube), the world market will continue to grow at an estimated 5.4 percent annually over the next three years to a total value of 42.7 billion euros.
