The new 2017 financial statement data for the Acimac sample of world ceramic tile manufacturers analysed by the Acimac Research Department reveal a further improvement in Italy’s performance with respect to its international competitors, including growth in both production efficiency and profitability. However, sales growth slowed with respect to the exceptional results of 2016. The improvement in Italian companies’ results is particularly significant compared to those of the non-Italian companies in the Acimac world sample. (This sub-sample, referred to here as “Foreign manufacturers”

The climate of recent times, characterized by a consistent improvement of all indicators, could not last forever. So, here we are, packing up for the summer break, with some hints and reflections… starting from the first trend emerging in the second quarter of this year, namely the widespread slowdown of orders. The traditional quarterly survey by Acimall, the Confindustria member association, reveals a 9.9 percent decrease compared to the same period of 2017. Let's make it clear that the reference quarter was really one of the best, with significant growth rates, nevertheless we cannot let

In the April-June 2017, orders for Italian woodworking technologies recorded 31.9% growth rates, compared to the same period of 2016 (previous quarter growth was 22.2%), reported Italian woodworking machinery and tools manufacturers’ association Acimall . The final figure results from the performance of foreign trade, with orders increasing by 34.8% in the quarter under scrutiny, and the trend of the Italian market, achieving a significant plus 18.7% after the negative result of minus 3.6% in January-March 2017. This “resurrection” has been driven by the long-awaited official document about

An industrial sector in a good state of health with an annual turnover in excess of 44 billion euros and a strong export propensity which opens up exciting business opportunities is the picture of the Italian processing and packaging industry painted by the Ipack-Ima Monitor, the half-yearly business study conducted over a sample of companies representing the entire supply chain. The industry, consisting of manufacturers of processing and packaging machinery, suppliers of components and producers of materials, serves a range of downstream industrial sectors divided up into a number of business

WOODWORKING MACHINERY: ANOTHER POSITIVE QUARTER: In the April-June period, orders increased +21.2 % The trend has really changed: for some time now, the atmosphere has been different in the business of technology for wood and wood-based materials. Further evidence comes from the periodical survey by the Studies office of Acimall, the Confindustria member association, showing that in the second quarter 2016 orders increased by 21.2 percent compared to the same period of last year. The positive trend of recent times is continuing, still driven by foreign markets, where orders went up by 17.2

Eni is involved in the ExoMars space mission by the European and Russian Space Agencies, developing a drilling system to explore Martian soil. Mars’s weak atmosphere doesn’t offer much protection from radiation and sunlight, so organic molecules are more likely to have been preserved underground than on the surface. The Rover will search for these molecules to see if they provide any hints that life existed on the planet. Recent missions to Mars have provided us with a wealth of information about the planet, but we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. A new mission by the European and

The year 2015 will not be remembered as a season of records, but for the Italian woodworking technology industry the past twelve months were undoubtedly better than expected. The trends based on the positive figures of the preliminary balance published by the association in mid-December (for convenience, see the table in the left column of this press release) will probably be revised upwards, although it should be noticed that most orders coming in the fourth quarter will generate revenues in 2016. As a matter of fact, orders in the final quarter 2015 cast a new light onto the industry. On the

In Italy’s leading segments for instrumental mechanics industry, the graphic and paper machinery industry looks optimistic in correlation to the increasingly aggressive international competition and stagnant domestic market. Revenues from exports and export-generated is growing despite balancing the delayed difficulties in the domestic market which in turn is keeping the employment levels stable. This in sum comes from the market survey conducted by the research department of Acimga – the Italian Manufacturers Association of Machinery for the Graphic, Converting and Paper Industry – with

ASSOCOMAPLAST, tthe Italian trade association belonging to CONFINDUSTRIA, which groups together some 165 makers of machinery, moulds and equipment for plastics and rubber, has produced its 2013 full-year forecast for the industry on the basis of foreign trade data for the first nine months of the year provided by ISTAT, Italy's National Institute of Statistics. The slight dip in exports (-2.8% with respect to January-September 2012) could be recovered in the fourth quarter thanks to the expected economic recovery, early signals of which have been noted recently by the CONFINDUSTRIA Research

The analysis by Assocomaplast, the Italian trade association, belonging to CONFINDUSTRIA, which groups together some 160 manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery) of the latest ISTAT, the Italian National Institute of Statistics, figures for Italian foreign trade shows that, in the first half of 2013, imports in the sector were somewhat weak compared to the same period in 2012 whereas exports held relatively firm, as summarized in Table 1. The downturn in imports is a symptom of a domestic market that still struggles to recover. However, a potentially promising sign, on this