The Skies are Still Blue but Caution is Advisable
During the ASSIOT and ASSOFLUID economy day, with the two associations now united under one banner, Federtec, the final trade balance for 2018 was published with further encouraging figures for the macro-sector, albeit, below the forecasts from last Autumn. Positive figures are also expected for the coming year.
by Silvia Crespi
On March 19th, the Spring ASSIOT/ASSOFLUID economy day was held. The association is now known as Federtec, as Fabio Gallo, Economic Commission President, underlined at the event opening.
Fabrizio Cattaneo (ASSIOT secretary) and Marco Ferrara (ASSOFLUID director) compared, as is usual in such circumstances, the forecasts of autumn last year with the consolidated data of 2018.
Results are positive both for mechanical power transmission and Fluid Power, while being a little lower than expectations due to the slowing of the economy over the final quarter. Fabrizio Cattaneo commented: “Compared to last autumn, a little caution is necessary. While general trends have been confirmed, we have also been slightly too optimistic. Rather than 8/9% growth, the final figure was a nonetheless healthy 7.5% thanks to a strong domestic market and imports”.
Looking in detail at product ranges, on the front row of the grid we find gearing, while transmission has not performed quite so well. Cattaneo was also keen to highlight the strong international market penetration Italian transmission equipment has enjoyed: for all product groups, the index is over 50%, data that confirms the excellence that “made in Italy” represents. Germany is still the main export market (followed by France and the USA), with a share of 23% of total exports and is also the leading importer, followed by China and France. Marco Ferrara’s comments concerning the Fluid Power compartment echoed this. Once again, certain forecasts were over confident. There has been a turn-around in that it is now the hydraulic sector bossing the pack thanks to the strong performance of the industrial sectors using this type of component. Readers will be able to analyze data in depth using the graphs shown.
The entire macro-sector, thanks to the growth across almost all its compartments, closed the year 8.7% up in revenues for a total of almost €12 bn.
For the first semester of 2019, forecasts are remaining positive for power transmission, although there will be a down-turn for all sectors. Hydraulics and pneumatics will continue to perform more strongly. Across the sector, we can expect 3% growth and 4% production increase with overall revenues exceeding €12 bn.
Economic structure and finance compared
Data was followed up by a presentation from Emanuela Carcea, from the FEDERMACCHINE economic department, who outlined balance analysis comparing economic and financial structure and performance of ASSIOT, ASSOFLUID and of FEDERMACCHINE itself. From the analysis, the highly unique characteristics of the Italian transmission and power motion and power industry became evident in terms of its assets and financial composition. Financial and economic indicators confirm good levels of profitability and productivity with strong probability for this to continue in the future.
The last three years have been very positive from these perspectives. Assofluid has been following the trends experienced by Federmacchine, despite the differences in product typology. From the statistics coming out of Assiot, there is still lingering concern for the financial set up, even though this situation has greatly improved recently. Both areas can count on a strong model in terms of financial structure.
Turkey: opportunity for foreign investment
Invest in Turkey (www.invest.gov.tr) – the Turkish Presedential office for investment – was in charge of the “Turkey flies” presentation which focused on the potential of a country with great solidity in its macro-economic performance, perfectly able to attract foreign investment thanks, in part, to the programme of incentives put in place by the government. The presentation title deliberately underlines the Turkish know how that is at the forefront of aeronautic technology. Turkey is one of the few countries in the world able to design, develop, assemble, test and support planes and helicopters.
Gino Costa and Alfredo Nocera, illustrated the reasons for investing in Turkey during their presentations, focusing on three areas of interest: market size, ease of market access and the particular simplicity, according to the investment office, of doing business there. To find out more, readers can find a special article dedicated to this subject in this issue.