Italian ceramic technology achieves turnover of 1,710 million euros in 2013

Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers have again confirmed their global leadership, with results better than last year's.

Turnover in the sector was 1,710 million euros in the twelve months of 2013, representing an increase of 2.2% on the previous year.

• Exports up by 5.8%

The driving force behind the sales were exports, which now account for 80% of business in the industry. Exports have registered an increase of 5.8% bringing the total income generated outside Italy to 1,336.4 million euros.

The geographical breakdown of sales shows that distribution is almost uniform also in 2013.

Top of the rankings is Asia (not including China), which is in first place among the export markets with turnover of 221.1 million euros, thanks to growth of 4% compared to 2012 and a share of 16.2% of total exports. Next is the Middle East with 213.7 million euros (+3.2%) equivalent to 15.6% of the total.

The European Union has dropped to third place, with sales of 201.2 million euros, a fall of 8.9%.

Africa performed extremely well, increasing sales by 17.5% with 200 million euros, accounting for 14.6% of total exports. Most machines destined for Africa are still sold in the north of the continent.

Next in the ranking was South America followedby Eastern Europe, East Asia and Oceania.

The Chinese market performed very strongly, with an increase of 51.6% compared to 2012, and total income of over 100 million euros.

• Italian market stalling

The opposite trend prevailed in the home market: sales in Italy fell by 9.9% in 2013, standing at 348.3 million euros. The drop in the Italian market is common to all the main sectors based on ceramic technologies, namely the manufacturers of tiles, sanitaryware, tableware and heavy clay.

• The sector

The structure of the sector is almost unchanged, with 144 of ceramic machinery and equipment manufacturing companies at the end of last year (7 fewer than 2012). However, jobs have remained stable, with 6,049 employees in the sector, an increase of 1.3% compared to 2012.

The division of companies by size is also the same, with 54.9% of all manufacturers achieving sales of less than 2.5 million euros, while just 11.9% of companies have a turnover of more than 10 million euros. The large companies are those with the highest propensity to export, reflecting the inversely proportional trend in terms of the impact on turnover compared to share of foreign markets.

• Forecasts for 2014

"The early part of 2014 has been reasonably positive" commented ACIMAC chairman Fabio Tarozzi "leading to the hope that we will end the year with slight growth".

"Our flagship trade fair, Tecnargilla, will be held on 22-26 September and this gives us more optimism" continued Tarozzi.

"This year Tecnargilla will once again be the industry's biggest trade fair", he concluded.

"It shows the trade that Italian companies are technological leaders, and they are getting ready to preview their new processes and products at Rimini".

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Main results from the 22nd National Statistical Survey