Ceramic machinery: 2006 markets for Italian companies

Jun 14, 2007

14/06/07 - Europe regained its position as the number one market for the Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers in 2006. After being pushed off the top spot last year by the Middle East, the European Union (EU-25) registered growth in sales for the third year running (+11.2%) to 313.6 million euro, 25.2% of total exports.
Although the Middle East has fallen into second position (218.7 million euro, 17.6% of the total), the area is experiencing growth with a 20.4% increase in sales during the last three year period.

Sales to Eastern Europe have dropped to 179.9 million euro (down 9.2%) and account for 14.5% of the sector’s total. This is the second best result in Eastern European markets in the last ten years.

Sales to Africa have shown strong growth (+36.2%) to reach a record turnover figure of 138.3 million euro, while sales to Asia – excluding China – have fallen to 119.2 million euro (down 21.1% on 2005, which was an almost record year, but up 22.5% on the 97.6 million euro of 2004).
After two years of intense growth, sales to Central and South America amounted to 115.6 million euro, down by 4.6%.

The area of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan performed surprisingly well to reach 78.8 million euro, up 21.3%. This recovery is cause for optimism, although the figures are still far short of the peak values of about a decade ago.

Sales to North America, including Mexico, fell to 72.4 million euro (down 30.1%) following the completion of supply contracts for several major new factories. Oceania came in last with sales of 7.3 million euro, down 11.5%.

It is interesting to note that the sector’s export pie chart is split into numerous slices of similar size, indicating a global presence with a healthy spread over the various continents. This is a guarantee for the continuing stability of the sector as it avoids excessive dependency on any one market and makes it possible to offset negative trends in any given area.
At 39.7%, Europe is the leading market followed by Asia at 33.5%, America at 15.1% and Africa at 11.1%.