Acimall reports positive year for wood technology industry
acimall20qiv20201820en.jpg
Italian woodworking orders through 2018. Total orders in blue, foreign orders in red, domestic (Italy) orders in green.

All economic variables analyzed by the Studies office of Acimall, the Confindustria association that represents industry companies in Italy, indicate that 2018 was another positive year.

Production reached 2.487 billion euro (resulting into the 9.5 growth figure, from 2.27 billion in 2017) and also export sales increased (1.694 billion euro, up by 6.5 percent).

Another sign that the Italian industry using technology for wood and wood-based materials is going through a good season comes from imports, at 239 million euro, 27.9 percent more than 187 million in 2017.

The trade balance is also positive (1.455 billion euro, plus 3.8 percent). In general, Acimall said that

the woodworking machinery industry closed another year of consolidation, certainly supported by government incentives to investments in production technology and Industry 4.0.

Optimism seemed to fade out partially in the final quarter 2018, with figures indicating a slight slowdown in orders of Italian equipment and technology. The Italian market was still lively, scoring 17.9 percent growth over Q4 2017, but this performance was offset by foreign orders decreasing by 13.6 percent, which means that the grand total for the October-December 2018 period is minus 3.2 percent. See www.acimall.com

 

 

.

Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Profile picture for user karlforth
About the author
Karl Forth

Karl D. Forth is online editor for CCI Media. He also writes news and feature stories in FDMC Magazine, in addition to newsletters and custom publishing projects. He is also involved in event organization, and compiles the annual FDM 300 list of industry leaders. He can be reached at [email protected].