Machine tools: overall index drops, but domestic orders increase

21/10/2013

In the third quarter of 2013 the orders index for machine tools, developed by the Centre for Studies & Culture of Ucimu-Sistemi per produrre, registered a decline of 5.7 percent compared to the same period last year. The absolute value of the index is equal to 58 (base 2005=100).

The overall result was due to the slowdown in foreign demand. The index of foreign orders collected by Italian manufacturers fell, in fact, by 6.8 percent, compared to the period July-September 2012, with an absolute index value of 93.9.

Different, instead, the response in the domestic market: the index of domestic orders returned to rise, with an increase of 1,7 percent compared to the same period last year. The absolute value of the index stood at 17.7.

According to the forecasts prepared by Oxford Economics, the consumption of machine tools in Italy will grow by 4.5 percent in 2014, 7.1 percent in 2015, 8.7 percent in 2016, 9.6 percent in 2017. The increases estimated by the Institute have all been revised upwards compared to the previous survey, carried out last spring, and show a steady growth that is higher than that reported for Europe in the same period.

Ucimu has organized in Milan, on Tuesday, November 26, the first Conference on Machine Tool in Italy. Not a convention but a day of work dedicated to analyze state of the art, medium and long term strategies, opportunities and needs of a sector that includes not only manufacturers but also the agents, importers, production subsidiaries of foreign companies operating in Italy. The hope is that the open confrontation with interlocutors who, in some cases, have very different needs than ours, would bring benefit to the entire community of the machine tool in Italy since, beyond the numbers, is representing an heritage for the whole economic system, as it’s the basis of any production process.