Amaplast: Made in Italy and the Russian recovery

+109%: This the increase in Italian exports of machinery, equipment and moulds for plastics and rubber to Russia in the first nine months of 2017, as compared to the same period in 2016, according to the calculations of the Centro Studi di Amaplast (Confindustria member sector association that groups together more than 170 manufacturers) on foreign trade data published by ISTAT.

Italian export of machinery, equipment and moulds for plastics and rubber to Russia.

This upswing means that the historical and important European trade market outlet is back in the top ten Italian machine manufacturers  foreign sales destinations, after four years of sharp decline, the result of sanctions imposed on the country and concurrent economic difficulties in the market. Extrusion lines and other high value added primary processing machinery, often tailored to the specific needs of the customer, comprise a large proportion of what Italians suppliers are sending to Russian converters.

Not only are sales to Russia definitely increasing for Italian plastics/rubber rubber producing machinery, equipment and moulds manufacturers: in fact, between January and September 2017, overall exports in the sector registered  a +16%. In the light of these positive results, Amaplast estimates that for the year as a whole, Italian production may have reached a new record high of 4.5 billion euros (which would thus be higher than the pre-crisis 4.25 billion, reached in 2007) scoring an increase of at least five points on 2016.