ITALY – According to the quarterly survey of Acimall, the Confindustria-member industry association, the first quarter for Italian woodworking machinery is in line with the excellent results of 2017.

A year that closed with a production value growth of 10.5 percent compared to 2016, achieving a historical record of 2.27 billion euro.

The figures of the January-March 2018 period recorded 19.2 percent growth compared to the first three months of 2017. Export remains the key driver (up by 22.1 percent from the first quarter of last year), while the domestic market increased by only 3.7 percent as the Italian market is falling back into a ‘pondering’ phase, after a few months of booming investments supported by the measures and incentives of the Industria 4.0 plan.

The survey by the association also indicates that the orders book has gone down to 3.4 months (from 3.6 in the previous quarter), while prices as of January 1st have slightly increased (0.6 percent).

The quality survey for the quarter under scrutiny indicates that, according to 65 percent of the sample, the production trend is positive (stationary according to 29 percent, decreasing according to 6 percent).

Employment is stable according to 35 percent of the sample, increasing for 53 percent and decreasing for 12 percent. And available stocks are stable according to 65 percent of the interviewees, decreasing for 29 percent and increasing for 6 percent.

Looking at the short-term, 41 percent of the interviewees expect an expansion of export orders, while 47 percent predict a stationary trend; 12 percent fear a reduction (the balance is positive by 29 points). 23 percent of the sample is confident about the domestic market; 65 percent expect stable sales trends within the national borders, while 12 percent believes they will decrease (positive balance by 11 points).