Every year Acimga gathers all the market data from the previous year and publishes the Sector Report, written by the Research Department.
Italian companies offer a comprehensive range of products, and the country is a world leader in rotogravure and flexographic printing machines as well as paper and converting machines, while it is dependent on imports mainly for phototypesetting machines, scanners, and prepress processes in general. Over the last few years there has been a progressive shift towards the packaging market (which now generates over 80% of total industry revenues) mirrored by a drop in production intended for the graphic industry (less than 20%) resulting from the increasing spread of multimedia technology in the graphic and publishing industry.
The Italian industry has always been strongly export-oriented and over the last few years, despite the global economic crisis, it even succeeded in slightly improving its international standing. The simplification of production processes has shaped the industry’s reorganization with the goal of achieving solid value for money. This approach, crucial to the success of Italy’s production, is even more essential in today’s uncertain global economic context.
The Italian industry of graphic, paper and converting machinery closed 2020 with a significant drop in revenues (-15.8%) over the previous year at €2,386 million. Exports suffered a 18.1% plunge, while domestic sales saw a smaller 12.4% decline at just below €1,000 million in value. Imports also dropped by 19.6% to a value of €437 million.
The trade balance surplus decreased from €1,150 to €950 million.
As might be expected in a year marked by the Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting containment measures, in 2020 domestic consumption saw a 14.7% drop to €1,436 million. The market share covered by the domestic industry grew by two percentage points, from 68% to 70%.
As in the previous year, investment dropped by 24.1%. This is not surprising in a year of health and economic crisis.
2018-2020 MAIN INDUSTRY TRENDS
