GIMAV, the Italian Association of Glass-Processing Machinery and Accessory Suppliers provides a close-up of the industry in 2011: exports up by 7.86% with more than positive results in China, but also in Poland, India, US, Turkey and South Korea. GIMAV’s official data reflects positive growth for the industry of machinery, accessories and special products for glass processing in 2011, in line with the entire machine building industry, up by 11.5% at EUR 7.8 billion. The positive performance is largely the result of brilliant exports, the true driving force behind the industry. Exports increased significantly and approached pre-crisis levels, unlike domestic sales that remained sluggish. After the heavy setback of 2009 exports slowly started climbing again, but with periods of promising vitality dotted with moments of market stagnation. Despite this fluctuating performance, the sector closed 2011 on positive ground, although the flat glass industry is still feeling the pinch of the persisting crisis affecting the construction industry. Statistical surveys for exports indicate an overall growth of +7.86%, more specifically: machinery, accessories and special products for flat glass + 5.10%; machinery, accessories and special products for hollow glass + 12.90%. For the first time the European Union lost its leadership as Italy’s main preferential market outlet, dropping from 35.82% in 2010 to 29.94% in 2011. However, if all exports to non-EU countries are considered – that proved to be on an encouraging upswing – continental Europe as a whole remains the destination of 46% of Italian exports. Export flows are increasingly shifting towards emerging countries in Asia and Latin America (although the latter is slightly slowing down compared to the recent past). Moreover, statistics also show that one of Italy’s historic market outlets, i.e. the US, is starting to rebound.
