The U.S. manufacturing industry continues to face a number of challenges that limit its performance.
Spending on capital goods and investment in equipment and machinery has languished, now for several years, and this is reflected in production and productivity levels, which have also stagnated.
The continuing strength of the dollar against the world's major currencies plays havoc with U.S. manufacturing companies trying to maintain competitive prices in an increasingly global market, as do relatively high interest rates or at least higher than quantitative easing a few years ago.
Added to this are the reverberations and uncertainties created by Brexit and concerns about geopolitical tensions and repercussions on world markets.
The Manufacturers' Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) forecasts relatively modest manufacturing output growth for the US. While, annual U.S. GDP growth is estimated to average 2.3 percent between 2017 and 2020, in contrast, manufacturing output growth is expected to be 1.5 percent over the same period.
Forecasts for iron and steel production, leading sectors of U.S. manufacturing, although improved from a few years ago, point to sluggish growth.
Against this backdrop, in 2016, total U.S. imports related to Machines Italia's 15 core sectors decreased by 5.65 percent to €47.7 billion. As for U.S. imports of the main commodity categories of capital goods, there was a decrease in hydraulic, pneumatic and transmission components (8.1 percent), earth-moving machinery (13.9 percent), agricultural machinery (11.8 percent), metalworking machinery (7.8 percent), textile machinery (6 percent), glass processing machinery (34.2 percent), tanning machinery (12.4 percent) and machinery of the metallurgical sector (11.4 percent).
On the other hand, marble processing machines (0.8 percent), plastic and rubber processing machines (2.2 percent), food industry machines (11 percent), printing and papermaking industry machines (8.2 percent), packaging machines (12.8 percent), woodworking machines (11.1 percent) and ceramics machines (26.3 percent) were on the rise.
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. imports of capital goods are hydraulic, pneumatic and transmission components (32.4 percent), earthmoving and construction machinery (13.4 percent) and agricultural machinery (11.1 percent).
In 2016, U.S. imports of made-in-Italy instrumental mechanics grew by 3.11 percent and the best performance of the top 10 U.S. trading partners. Italy reconfirms itself as the sixth largest U.S. supplier of instrumental machinery and technology - 15 sectors project Machines Italia , with € 3 billion exported in 2016 and a market share of over 6% (+ 3.11% compared to 2015). Preceding Italy in the following order are Japan, Germany, China, Canada and Mexico, with South Korea, the United Kingdom, France and Taiwan following.
An increase was found for machinery in the printing and papermaking industry (42.9 percent), marble processing machinery (41.2 percent), ceramics machinery (31.5 percent), glass processing machinery (31.3 percent), earthmoving and construction machinery (25.9 percent), woodworking machinery (21.2 percent), food processing machinery (12 percent) and packaging machinery (8.1 percent).
Only seven of Machines Italia's 15 sectors were down, namely agricultural machinery (10.7 percent), components (8.4 percent), textile machinery (5.3 percent), metalworking machinery (2.2 percent), metalworking machine tools (2.2 percent), tanning machinery (0.9 percent) and plastic and rubber processing machinery (0.7 percent).
Spending on capital goods and investment in equipment and machinery has languished, now for several years, and this is reflected in production and productivity levels, which have also stagnated.
The continuing strength of the dollar against the world's major currencies plays havoc with U.S. manufacturing companies trying to maintain competitive prices in an increasingly global market, as do relatively high interest rates or at least higher than quantitative easing a few years ago.
Added to this are the reverberations and uncertainties created by Brexit and concerns about geopolitical tensions and repercussions on world markets.
The Manufacturers' Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) forecasts relatively modest manufacturing output growth for the US. While, annual U.S. GDP growth is estimated to average 2.3 percent between 2017 and 2020, in contrast, manufacturing output growth is expected to be 1.5 percent over the same period.
Forecasts for iron and steel production, leading sectors of U.S. manufacturing, although improved from a few years ago, point to sluggish growth.
Against this backdrop, in 2016, total U.S. imports related to Machines Italia's 15 core sectors decreased by 5.65 percent to €47.7 billion. As for U.S. imports of the main commodity categories of capital goods, there was a decrease in hydraulic, pneumatic and transmission components (8.1 percent), earth-moving machinery (13.9 percent), agricultural machinery (11.8 percent), metalworking machinery (7.8 percent), textile machinery (6 percent), glass processing machinery (34.2 percent), tanning machinery (12.4 percent) and machinery of the metallurgical sector (11.4 percent).
On the other hand, marble processing machines (0.8 percent), plastic and rubber processing machines (2.2 percent), food industry machines (11 percent), printing and papermaking industry machines (8.2 percent), packaging machines (12.8 percent), woodworking machines (11.1 percent) and ceramics machines (26.3 percent) were on the rise.
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. imports of capital goods are hydraulic, pneumatic and transmission components (32.4 percent), earthmoving and construction machinery (13.4 percent) and agricultural machinery (11.1 percent).
In 2016, U.S. imports of made-in-Italy instrumental mechanics grew by 3.11 percent and the best performance of the top 10 U.S. trading partners. Italy reconfirms itself as the sixth largest U.S. supplier of instrumental machinery and technology - 15 sectors project Machines Italia , with € 3 billion exported in 2016 and a market share of over 6% (+ 3.11% compared to 2015). Preceding Italy in the following order are Japan, Germany, China, Canada and Mexico, with South Korea, the United Kingdom, France and Taiwan following.
An increase was found for machinery in the printing and papermaking industry (42.9 percent), marble processing machinery (41.2 percent), ceramics machinery (31.5 percent), glass processing machinery (31.3 percent), earthmoving and construction machinery (25.9 percent), woodworking machinery (21.2 percent), food processing machinery (12 percent) and packaging machinery (8.1 percent).
Only seven of Machines Italia's 15 sectors were down, namely agricultural machinery (10.7 percent), components (8.4 percent), textile machinery (5.3 percent), metalworking machinery (2.2 percent), metalworking machine tools (2.2 percent), tanning machinery (0.9 percent) and plastic and rubber processing machinery (0.7 percent).