Ucima: orders restart both inside and outside Italy’s borders

Modena, 23 March 2021. Exports at +4% drive turnover into positive territory for the packaging machinery manufacturers sector. Prospects of stability for 2021, but the increase in the costs of raw materials, components, and sea freight rates is worrying. 

According to the sample of companies monitored by the Mecs-Ucima research centre, the order intake of Italian packaging machine manufacturers at the end of 2020, both at home and abroad, was positive, with an overall increase of 7.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Indeed, foreign demand grew by 8.1%, while domestic demand grew by 3.4%. Overall, however, cumulative order intake in 2020 was down 1.7% compared to the same period in 2019.

As a result, the change in turnover in the last three months of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, remained in positive territory after the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, recording an increase of 1.8%. This result is the result of 4% growth on the foreign market and a contraction once again on the domestic market of -8.2%.

As far as the foreign market in Q1 2021 is concerned, 17.6% of companies expect an increase in results compared to the previous period; the majority (64.7%) expect stable results, while 17.6% expect a decrease in orders.

The sector is therefore still substantially healthy and operators’ expectations for the coming months are stable, both on the domestic and foreign markets.

«This start of the year gives us confidence - comments Matteo Gentili, president of Ucima - and confirms that our sector remains robust. The Covid emergency did not catch us unprepared and we are reaping the benefits of the great research and development work that our companies have always done over the years. This year there are already signs of recovery, but caution is needed. We are aware that our competitors are fierce and that uncertainty in many markets due to the pandemic is still high. We are also seeing consequences in terms of increased raw material  and sea freight costs, which obviously affects production and supply costs».