Exports driving Italian machinery sales

摘要

The annual report from Assocomaplast (the Italian trade association belonging to Confindustria, which groups together some 165 makers of machinery, molds and equipment for plastics and rubber) shows that even more than in the past,: and more markedly than in other Italian mechanical equipment sectors, production output was driven by exports, with an upward trend that, despite leveling off over the year, enabled Italian equipment manufacturers to offset extremely weak domestic demand. In fact, the periodic business climate survey conducted by Assocomaplast on a sample of Italian processors also revealed a steep downturn in the domestic market over the course of 2012, which clearly also curbed the firms' propensity to invest in new machinery.