UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE: in 2024 a sharp fall for the Italian machine tool industry. Growth at modest pace in 2025
13.12.2024 - ASSOCIATION
For the Italian manufacturers of machine tools, robots and automation systems, the year 2024 is closing with a considerable fall of almost all economic indicators. The year 2025 will not be bright, but however, a weak trend reversal is expected.
This, in brief, is what was illustrated by Riccardo Rosa, president of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Italian machine tools, robots and automation systems manufacturers' association, during the usual year-end press conference.
Based on the preliminary data prepared by the Studies Dept. & Business Culture Centre of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, in 2024, production stood at 6,745 million euro, showing an 11.4% drop over the previous year.
The downturn was exclusively due to the sharp contraction of deliveries by manufacturers on the domestic market, which did not exceed 2,255 million euro, i.e. 33.5% less than in 2023 and which were held back by the low investment propensity of Italian users.
The measure of this weakness is expressed by the figure of household consumption, which collapsed by 34.8% to 3,795 million euro. This trend also impacted the performance of imports, which fell by 36.5% to 1,540 million euro.
The performance of Italian manufacturers on the foreign market was different, as highlighted by the figure of exports, which grew by 6,3% versus 2023, to 4,490 million euro, new record value never achieved before.
According to UCIMU processing of the data from the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), in the period January-August 2024 (latest available data), the main destination markets for the Italian sector offering of machine tools only were the United States (419 million euro, +17.8%), Germany (243 million euro, +12.3%), China (138 million euro, -15.3%), India (132 million euro, +100%), France (125 million euro, -9.3%).
The export/production figure went up to 66.6%.
For 2025, the expected results should include a return to a positive range, but with very moderate increases. In particular, according to the forecasts compiled by the Studies Dept. & Business Culture Centre of UCIMU, production should increase again in 2025, attaining 6,940 million euro (+2.9% versus 2024).
This outcome should be due to the positive performance of exports - likely to remain stationary (+0.3%) versus 2024 at 4,505 million euro (new record) - as well as to the moderate recovery of deliveries by Italian manufacturers, which should grow to 2,435 million euro (+8% compared to 2024), driven by the revival of domestic demand.
Italian consumption of machine tools, robots and automation should increase to 4,070 million euro, corresponding to 7.2% more than in 2024. Imports should also benefit from the (weak) recovery in domestic demand, as shown by the forecast figure indicating a 6.2% growth to 1,635 million euro.
The export/production ratio should decrease slightly to 64.9%.
