ITALY - According to Acimall (Italian Woodworking Technology Association) the Italian industry of woodworking machinery and tools reached a value of 2,266 million euro in 2019, down by 9.9 percent from 2018.

Such drop resulted from an “acceptable” trend in the first part of the year, followed by more significant reductions that affected all major international competitors.

In 2019, exports recorded an eight percent reduction, showing a solid trend in the traditional destination markets. Fortunately, Italy has largely differentiated export flows, so the serious difficulties in some markets were offset by more positive trends in others.

On the domestic market, the drop amounted to 13.5 percent, reversing the trend of an index that had been positive for five years, also supported by fiscal incentives that enabled many companies to upgrade their equipment fleet in the 2016-2018 period, with inevitable consequences on purchasing volumes in the subsequent years.

An even stronger reduction affected import, down by 17 percent, while the trade balance remained at a high level (1.4 billion euro). So, once again, the industry of Italian wood and furniture technology reaffirmed its strong propensity to export.

“Now more than ever, it is essential to understand the economic situation of the industries we represent,” said Dario Corbetta, director of Acimall, the Confindustria member association that represents industry companies. “We are facing a period that will require strong nerves and a strong and proactive central economic policy like never before, without which the wood machinery business might pay a very high price. The effects of Covid-19, as reported by our Studies office, will unfortunately add to the significant slowdown recorded in 2019, resulting into a trend that will require an even bigger effort to go back to 2016-2018 levels.”