Federmacchine: recovery for the Industry in 2021 After a Difficult 2020

Surveys carried out in January confirm the negative effect of the pandemic on the entire sector, but in 2021 turnover will begin to grow again,
driven by exports and tax benefits provided by the Transition 4.0 plan

According to Federmacchine, the Italian federation of capital goods manufacturing companies, after a negative 2020 with double-digit declines for all the main economic indicators, the Italian capital goods manufacturing industry is ready for the recovery which is expected as early as 2021.
In 2020, the turnover of this segment of the Italian industry actually dropped to €39,674 million, 17.9% less than in 2019, with exports falling by 15.9%, reaching a total of €27,177 million, due to the drop in deliveries by Italian manufacturers on the domestic market, which fell, by 21.8%, to a total of €12,497 million. The Covid effect was therefore particularly heavy on the trend of domestic consumption, which fell by 22.6% to €19,826 million. The reduction in Italian demand for new machinery had a heavy impact not only on domestic deliveries but also on imports, which fell by 23.9% to EUR 7,329 million. According to forecasts drawn up by Federmacchine’s Statistics Group, 2021 should be a better year, however, turnover should start growing again reaching around €43,200 million, with a good recovery determined both by exports, expected to grow by 8% to €29,349 million, and by deliveries by Italian manufacturers which, as a result of a 10.8% increase, will reach a value of €13,850 million. Overall, Italian consumption of capital goods, also supported by the tax incentives included in the Transition 4.0 plan, will rise to €22,279 million, 12.4% more than in 2020, driving not only manufacturers’ deliveries but also imports, which are expected to recover by 15%, reaching a value of €8,429 million. According to Giuseppe Lesce, president of Federmacchine, 2020 was certainly a year to forget for the capital goods sector, but things were not as bad as first forecasts had suggested: “credit goes to the Italian companies in the industry that have shown their ability to resist and react in such hard times. Indeed, if the mobility freeze is still a big problem for a strongly export-oriented sector like ours, the tax incentives included in the Transition 4.0 plan for the whole of 2021 and 2022 will certainly support investments in new machinery in our country”.