Acimac elects new executive board
It consists of: Antonella Dolcini (Eurotecnica), Carlos Ferrer (Esmalglass Italia), Barbara Franchini (F.M.), Ivanno Ligabue (LB Officine Meccaniche), Claudio Marani (Sacmi Imola), Luigi Montermini (Nuova Fima).
The Board also includes as statutory members the Chairman Pierluigi Ponzoni (Lema), the three Vice Chairmen Rino Bedeschi (Bedeschi Impianti), Giambattista Pedrini (Pedrini) and Fabio Tarozzi (Barbieri & Tarozzi), and past chairman Franco Stefani (System).
On the same occasion the Association unveiled the figures for the sector’s economic performance in 2004, a year that marked the end of a negative trend that had continued for three years.
The Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers’ total turnover has risen to 1,593.4 million euro (up 13.6% on 2003) as a result of the strong performance of the domestic market (up 4.6% to a total of 448 million euro) and the large rise in exports to 1,145.4 million euro (+17.6%).
All geographical areas showed major increases in turnover: +54% in the Middle East (which has become the leading export market for Italian companies), +24.6% in Western Europe, +39% in Central and Eastern Europe, +20.3% in China, +6.1% in North America, and +16.2% in Central and South America.
The only exceptions are the Asian countries (not including China) which have shown a 32.1% fall and Africa (-6.6%).
The in-focus section contains the figures and summary tables for the statistical survey
• Sector companies
• Breakdown of turnover
• Markets
• Client sectors
• Types of machinery
• Forecasts for 2005
After closures, new incorporations, mergers and takeovers, the number of Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers operating in the year 2004 totalled 175 (compared to 173 the previous year).
Total turnover in 2004 amounted to 1,593.4 million euro (up 13.6% on 2003), an increase of 191 million euro.
The industry has only partially recovered from the fall in sales in the Italian market in 2003 (-11.5%). Turnover totalled 448 million euro, 19.5 million euro more than in 2003 (a 4.6% increase).
By contrast, exports were up substantially compared to 2002 and 2003, increasing from 974 million euro in 2003 to 1,145.4 million euro in 2004. The percentage of total turnover attributable to exports has therefore risen from 69.4% to 71.9%.
2004 saw a recovery in sales in a number of markets (such as the European Union) that had been experiencing a long-term negative trend. One exception was Southeast Asia, where sales continued to fall.
The Middle East, which has been showing uninterrupted growth since 1999, overtook the European Union in 2004 to become the most important geographical area for exports of Italian ceramic technology with sales of 280.3 million euro (+54.3%).Iran remains the country with the highest demand for Italian plant and machinery.
The European Union showed a partial recovery in sales, which increased from 192 to 239.3 million euro and reached a 20.9% share of total foreign turnover. However these results are not sufficient to allow it to maintain its position as the leading export destination.
The EU was in fact pushed into second place in 2004 by the Middle East. The difficulties experienced by the Spanish tile industry remain the main factor behind the weaker demand for technology from this area.
The third largest export market is Eastern Europe, which after a year-long natural decline is returning to a positive growth trend in terms of sales, reaching a value of 150.1 million euro (39% growth over 2003).
Sales are also recovering in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, totalling 97.9 million euro in 2004 (+20.3%), while the rest of Asia has shown a fall of 32.1%. This continuing decline is mainly due to the significant fall in sales to Southeast Asia.
Exports to Africa showed a small fall (-6.6%) compared to an increase of 24.2% in 2003. However, exports continued to increase steadily both to the North American NAFTA area (+6.1%), where exports are concentrated prevalently in Mexico, and to Central and South America (+16.2%).
The year 2004 broadly confirmed the now well-established breakdown of machinery sales to the six different client ceramic sectors, namely manufacturers of tiles (82.8% of the sector’s total turnover), heavy clay products (8.3%), sanitaryware (5.7%), tableware (2%), refractories and various ceramic products (respectively 1.1% and 0.1%).
The value of sales of tile production machinery rose substantially from 1,156.6 to 1,319.9 million euro (14.1% up on 2003).
Sales in Italy showed a smaller increase, up 5.4% on 2003 to 361.9 million euro. On the other hand there was a substantial increase in exports in this segment, totalling 958 million euro (17.8% up on 2003, corresponding to a 144.8 million euro increase).
As regards other types of ceramic machinery, brick and tile machinery only partly recovered from its downturn in 2002 (160 million euro) and 2003 (122.8 million euro), reaching a turnover of 131.6 million euro.
By contrast, there was a substantial increase in sales of sanitaryware machinery (from 65.5 to 91.11 million euro) and refractories machinery (from 12.2 to 17.3 million euro).
There was instead a fall in sales of tableware machinery (down from 37.6 to 31.2 million euro to almost reach 2002 levels) and a drastic fall in sales of machinery for various ceramic products (from 7.8 to 2.3 million euro).
Just like in 2003, the percentage breakdown of the sector’s total turnover according to individual types of machinery did not change significantly in 2004 compared to previous years.
Most segments reported growth, including those that fell in 2003, i.e. product forming machinery (presses), which recorded an increase of 22.6%, and firing machinery (+34.7%).
On the other hand there was a fall in sales of moulds (-4.7%), sorting, packaging and palletisation systems (-19.1%) and laboratory instruments (-53.1%)
To some extent 2005 confirms the forecasts for a partial recovery of the Spanish market and growth of Russia and the Middle East. However, in spite of a substantial increase in turnover, most of the companies in the sector (prevalently small and medium-sized enterprises) are seeing a fall in profitability margins.
Added to this is the persistent uncertainty of the world economy, which has a strong impact on a sector that generates two-thirds of its turnover from exports and has a well-established presence in all world markets.
This is demonstrated by the general fall in demand during the first six months of the year. Sales are expected to recover partially over the next six months, although it is unlikely that the end-of-year results will match the turnover values of 2004.
As for the markets, the positive trend is expected to continue in Eastern European countries, while a natural fall in purchases may occur in the Middle East.
To remain competitive in an unstable international situation, the sector must continue to offer increasingly innovative technological proposals and therefore maintain its investments in research. For this reason, it must gradually pursue the concentration process as a key factor for absorbing the growing costs of research and market presence.
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