The 2010 figures reported by Italian packaging machinery manufacturers show that the industry has put the crisis firmly behind its back. The sector's turnover totalled 3,759 million euro at current prices, 16,4% up on 2009, when it slumped to 3,229 million euro. Last year's turnover even surpassed that of 2007 (3,610 million euro) and was not far short from the record figure of 3,827 million euro achieved in 2008. The excellent 2010 performance also enabled the Italian packaging machinery industry to strengthen its international leadership position and secure a 25,7% share of the world market compared to the 24,6% of 2009. The industry gained significant shares from its main international competitor, achieving 16% export growth compared to the overall world figure of 13,2%.

Moreover, the Italian packaging machinery industry reported an increase an in export share in 2010, reaching the 88,4% of total turnover compared to 88,1% in 2009. Export sales rose by 16,8% to a total of 3,322 million euro. The recovery in export has been fuelled by both the boom in emerging markets and the recovery of a number of well, established markets. China is the top export market (+98,1% to a total of 391,2 million euro), followed by the United States with 271,6 million euro (+29,8) and France with 259,7 million euro (+16,9). Amongst emerging markets, good results were achieved in Russia (+22,6% to a total of 142,2 million euro) and Brazil (+82,3% to 124,1 million euro), while strong performances were also reported in established markets such as the United Kingdom (+32,4% to 138,8 million euro) and Sweden (+49,2% to 96,2 million euro). By contrast, sales fell in Germany (-7,2%) and Spain (-9,8%). In general, Italian exports are spread out fairly evenly over the main regions of the world, with almost 65% of exports shipped to markets outside the European Union. Asia is the leading non-European outlet with 26,3% of total sales, while the other major areas (Latin America, North America, Middle East, etc.) account for shares of between 8% and 11%.

Furthermore, the Italian domestic market has returned to pre-crisis level: 437 million euro (13,6% up on 2009). Sales of packaging machinery in Italy generated 788 million euro in 2010 (+20,7%), with Italian manufacturers holding a majority share of 55,4% of the market. Imports amounted to 351 million euro.
Following 20,5% growth in orders in 2010, the sector's order book in the first quarter of 2011 reached a guaranteed 4.7 months of work, the highest level since 2008. Last year's strong order intake boosted the sector's turnover, which was up 24,5% in the first quarter of 2011 over the corresponding period the previous year. The domestic turnover rose by 25,3% and foreign turnover by 24,4%, allowing Italian manufacturers to report turnover growth in four consecutive quarters. The initial forecast for the whole of 2011 suggests that the recovery will strengthen with further growth in sector turnover.