Italy's machinery keeps the textile world spinning

Many of the textile industries operating today around the world have gone through tremendous transformation to keep pace with the ever-changing dynamics of the global textile market. The traditional style of working is no longer sufficient to cater to the growing requirements of the textile and apparel markets. To benefit the textile world, several steps have been taken in respect to economic modernization that includes improving trade relations with other countries, as well as formulating friendly trade policies. But in addition to this, it has been felt that carrying out technical modernization is also necessary in order to sustain and grow. As a result, the global textile sector is moving forward with an eye toward advances and innovations in technology.

A Global Industry Analysts Inc report says that the global market for textile machinery could reach US $ 22.9 billion by 2017. Exports of sophisticated machinery out of Europe have been growing at a brisk pace. Germany has continued its dominance as the top manufacturer and exporter of advanced textile machinery. However, in the recent years, Italy has been carving out a niche for itself in the textile machinery segment. In 2013, manufacturing figures of the Italian textile machinery touched € 1.9 billion, of which approximately € 1.6 billion, or 84 per cent, was exported to roughly 130 countries.

A survey conducted by the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT) confirmed 4 per cent growth in the orders for Italian textile machinery in the third quarter of 2014. This increase has been attributed to the rise in the orders for Italian textile machinery in the foreign markets. Among the main export markets, Italy's textile machinery has attracted buyers from the Asian sub-continent. There was a decrease of 7 per cent in exports to China, despite of which, China remains the biggest market for Italian textile machinery manufacturers. India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey have also actively imported Italian machinery, driving the demand up by 9 per cent. Sales to Poland and other eastern European countries have remained strong throughout 2014. The Mediterranean region, which involves Syria and Egypt, is also one of the major customers of the Italian textile machinery.

Italy has played an active role in helping Russia modernize its textile sector. The country provided firsthand knowledge to Russian manufacturers about the latest machinery used in Italy's textile sector. Italy's initiative in restructuring the Russian textiles has further strengthened the trade relations between the two countries. This move has opened a wide array of opportunities to export Italian machinery into Russia. In 2013, Italian sales of machinery to the Russian market stood at € 29 million. The shipments of Italian machinery to Uzbekistan in 2013 also look promising. In 2013, Uzbekistan purchased € 4 million worth of machines from the Italian manufacturers. Spinning machinery accounted for approximately 60 per cent of the sales, while weaving machinery represented 12 per cent of the shipments.

Although figures are better on the export front, machinery imports into the domestic market of Italy have slipped. Imports have declined by 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, compared to the corresponding period of the preceding year. The local market continues to remain stagnant and the demand has declined by approximately 22 per cent over the previous quarter. It is expected that the slow growth in the internal demand for textile machinery may lead to losses in the future. Another area of concern for Italy is the declining machinery sales to the United States. In order to balance the decline, Italy has shifted its focus toward South America. The growing demand in Brazil has been a positive sign for the Italian machinery exporters.