Record exports for Italian rubber and plastics machinery sector

Milan, Italy – The Italian rubber and plastics processing machinery sector achieved “all-time record exports” in 2015, industry association Assocomaplast has reported.

“A significant upsurge in the final months of the year took exports past the threshold of €2.9 billion, setting an all-time record, going well beyond the 2.75 billion [previous high] in 2007,” the group said in an 18 March press statement.

Assocomaplast noted particularly high exports to NAFTA markets, a “good trend” to EU countries, though sales to other European countries, Central and South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia “showed a worse performance.”

An 8.4-percent increase in imports, meanwhile, further supported evidence of a recovery in the Italian market, as reported by Assocomaplast members last year.

Given the gains in business activity, Assocomaplast said it was upgrading a recent full-year forecast, which estimated overall output from the Italian polymer machinery sector sector at around €4.1 billion.