Italians see a more positive future

摘要

This overview has been prepared from information contained in the report 'The European Foundry Industry 2001' published by the CAEF (info@caef-eurofoundry.org). In the first nine months of 2001, production of passenger vehicles dropped by 10.2 percent compared with the previous year. This was due partly to the expectations of new model launches and also because of a reduction in world demand. Figures for commercial vehicles, up in the first half of 2001, fell during the latter part, cancelling out previous gains. Positive demand from the railway and shipbuilding sectors helped redress some of the balance, as did the agricultural machinery sector. For the building industry, 2001 was the third consecutive year of growth, although the rate of growth was less than that of previous years. But figures for the first few months of 2002 look better, and there is cautious optimism that the year end results will show considerable improvement on those of 2001.