Performance of the Italian printing, converting, and paper machinery manufacturing industry shows overall stability, according to a quarterly qualitative survey carried out by Italy-based Acimga, the association of companies operating in the industry. The analysis registered members’ sentiment in the third quarter of 2013 and outlines forecasts for the year’s end.
On the domestic revenues front, 50% of companies sampled in the survey stated that the quarter under analysis closed with a generally stable performance, in line with expectations produced by the previous quarterly study. The situation is expected to remain unaltered for the past months of 2013. The majority of industry operators (46%) predict no change. In addition, for the first time since 2011, the balance between optimists (33%) and pessimists (21%) is back on the positive side.
Foreign revenues show a similar scenario. Some 48% of interviewees reported essential stability in both revenues and in their expectations for the end of the year. Interestingly, no interviewed company forecasted a drop. Conversely, domestic sales still show a difficult situation in the third quarter, although 50% of interviewed companies report a tendency toward greater stability by the end of the year.
The export trade proves once again the driving force of the industry – 83% of revenues are generated by exports, Acimga notes. Over the period in question, it adds, more than half of the companies (52%) reported a stable performance in foreign sales, while 26% actually increased them.
The last quarter of the year brings growing expectations for stability (65% of operators) and for an increase in sales (35% of companies), the survey revealed.
The stability of employment rates is a comforting datum, Acimga points out. In the July-September quarter, employment levels remained unchanged for 92% of companies and the remaining 8% claimed to have increased them.
For the past three months of the year, companies expecting to leave employment levels unaltered amount to 88% of the total. The percentage of companies planning to hire additional personnel remains unchanged at 8%.
Acimga, founded in 1947, operates through both a national and international network: Confindustria Federmacchine Federazione della Filiera della Carta e della Grafica, Tavolo Filiera della Carta, Eumaprint, Globalprint, and Istituto Italiano Imballaggio
TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/