ITALY — Acimall, the association of Italian manufacturers of technologies for wood and wood-based materials, has released 2024 year-end survey results illustrating Italian technology trends, as well as the import and export trends of Italy, China and Germany. 

The figures for the past year confirmed the forecasts of the Studies office of the association, reaffirming the preliminary figures.

• The Italian production of woodworking machines, tools and accessories amounted to 8.7 percent less than in 2023. Downward trends for exports (1.695 billion, minus 8.1 percent from the previous year) and the domestic market, stopping at 9.9 percent less than in 2023.

  

  
   

• A significant decrease was recorded by imports (228 million, down 25.2 percent), a trend that limited the trade balance decrease to minus 4.9 percent compared to 2023. The apparent consumption stopped at a 13.8 percent reduction compared to 2023 results, but still indicates that the Italian market remains a global leader.

It is definitely worth repeating what Dario Corbetta, Acimall director, said about the preliminary figures, reminding that this situation, clearly uncomfortable, is a sort of “time lapse” in an industry that has been growing for a few years. The causes are well-known and shared by most of the Italian and global economy: a pandemic emergency followed by incentives and aids that basically postponed the need to face the structural problems of the industry: “…from the enduring shortage of labor, that is forcing companies to adopt new tools to tackle the big issue of training, to the attractiveness of these operations for those new to the working world, from the delays in the generation change, to the many challenges that the instrumental mechanical industry is facing”.

The final balance was defined by the information collected during the last quarter, with figures that are getting hard to detect and interpret in view of the situation we all know: the quarterly survey by Acimall for October-December 2024 recorded a drop in orders by 5.2 percent (minus 6.5 percent abroad; plus 7.1 percent in Italy) compared to the same quarter of 2023. The orders book extended to 3.6 months (and growing), while prices increased by 2 percent from the beginning of the year. The quality survey revealed that the sample of interviewed companies expect substantial stability for production (55 percent), employment (70 percent) and available stocks (50 percent). Stability is not the trend expected at the beginning of this year: the domestic market is expected to drop further by 50 percent of the sample, to remain stable by 45 percent and to expand by 5 percent. Looking abroad, the share of opinions expecting stability climbs back to 50 percent, while the remaining 50 percent fear further shrinkage.

Italy, Germany, and China imports/exports in 2024

The Studies office of Acimall also processed a set of information about Italy’s position in global industry flows, comparing it with the two main competitors on the global scenario, Germany and China, excluding tools. Here are some highlights from the survey: 

• Italy closed 2024 with an export value (excluding tools) of a 8 percent decrease in 2023. The main destinations last year were the United States (down 4.3 percent), France (up 19 percent) and Germany (down 2.4 percent). 
• The sales to the two competitor countries were basically stable (minus 2.4 percent in Germany, plus 2 percent in China).
• In 2024, the import of wood and furniture technology decreased 25.1 percent. Germany remains at number one among Italy’s “supplier countries”, with a 46.8 percent decrease. 
• China surpassed Germany again and was the absolute leader of trade flows in 2024, with export (excluding tools) equal to a 9.3 percent increase than in 2023.
• On the import side – which amounted to a 18.5 percent decrease – the top supplier country goes to Germany, although it lost 22.9 percent in value.
• Next came Japan (increasing its Chinese machinery import by 29.1 percent). 

“The figures processed by our Studies office accurately illustrate the situation that made-in-Italy companies have to face every day”, said Corbetta. “The mature and established markets, despite the storms of recent years, are keeping their role and continue to be a reference for all manufacturers. The Chinese export reconquered the first place in the global markets, an expected result that suggests forgetting old clichés and working harder to preserve a technological gap that is essential to remain a reference partner in global trade flows in terms of quality, reliability, and most of all, service and after-sales partnership”.

To read the full report, visit acimall.com.