Italian woodworking technology has unfortunately come to the end of a positive cycle that has been lasting for three years. According to the trend survey by Acimall’s Studies Office, the first quarter 2008 recorded a shrinkage of orders by 5.8 percent as compared to the same period of 2007. The reasons include the specific economic cycles of the industry, but also the macroeconomic factors that have caused the recession of US economy and substantial stagnation in Europe.
It should be underlined that, in the first three months of 2007, the results had been particularly good, so that trend magnified the effect of slowdown in the January-March 2008 period.
According to the interviewed companies, the decrease of demand has been stronger in the domestic market (down by 8.5 percent), while foreign orders have fallen by 5 percent.
In Q1 2008, prices went up by 1.5 percent (probably due to the usual price list adjustments at the beginning of the year), while the period of assured production is basically stable (three months).
Coming to the quality survey, 65 percent of the sample indicated stationary production in the first quarter, 26 percent growing and 9 percent decreasing.
Employment is considered as stationary by 76 percent of the sample, growing by 18 percent and falling by 6 percent.
Available stocks are stationary according to 71 percent, decreasing according to 9 percent and growing according to the remaining 20 percent; these figures match the trend of production.
Particularly interesting answers were given by the interviewed companies about the possible trend of orders in the near future, with a hint of pessimism: domestic orders are expected to stay at the same level according to 47 percent of the interviewees, to expand further for 15 percent and to shrink for 38 percent. Stability is also predicted on foreign markets in the next few months by 47 percent of the sample. More optimistic forecasts for 21 percent, who announce slight expansion, while 32 percent fear further shrinkage. The latter remarks are clearly affected by some worry for the unfavorable currency exchange rate and the loss of competitiveness of the Italian system.
A widespread feeling of low confidence in the Italian markets still lingers on, despite the growth of import, going up in 2007 and still rising in the first months of the year.
The analysis of order indexes at current prices (2001=base 100) shows – for the 2001-2008 period – the seasonal trends of woodworking machinery sales (the “bottom” is touched in the third quarter of each year). Another significant fact is that, during 2006-2007, business went up again to 2001 levels, and export played a key role, always showing a stronger dynamic than total orders and domestic orders.
The price index in Q1 2008 reached a value of 115.7.
Ambrogio Delachi, Acimall President, expressed his confidence in the industry’s capacity to find the right solutions to get over this difficult period.
“In the past – Delachi said – we faced even harder challenges and achieved excellent results, thanks to the capacity of Italian manufacturers to respond to customer demands through the quality and customization of their solutions.
However, our products must become more competitive and for this reason we need a political strategy to that fosters investments, both through de-taxation policies (such as the liberalization of amortization of investments in production equipment) and through initiatives to support the training of engineers and specialists.
The “country system” can and must be a strength, especially in difficult periods, therefore we need the commitment of all involved actors. An example is the law proposal “Industria 2015”, within the frame of the Financial Act 2007, that will provide important technology innovation tools, an incentive the whole Italian business world is looking at with great interest.”
