The high quality of Italian-made products compared to those of other competitors is an advantage for facing the consequences of the global crisis and providing a boost for a lasting recovery. If this can be considered a valid concept in the analysis of various production sectors, it is even more so for the woodworking machinery and accessory industry, which is composed of about 300 significant firms with an overall turnover in 2009 of around 1.3 billion Euros. It is a sector that has managed to obtain remarkably important results throughout the world, making quality machinery and highly automated plants that are desired for the significant impact they make on production times and costs.

It is therefore no coincidence that the Italian woodworking machinery and accessory industry has “a particularly marked inclination towards export.” “The balance sheets for 2009 show an export/production share of 70 per cent,” explains Carlo Alberto Strada, from the research department at Acimall, the association that includes more than 200 Italian manufacturers (who together produce more than 90% of the national turnover). These excellent export performances are assisted to a significant degree by the work of Acimall, which was founded in 1966. Its activities include promoting Italian producers in markets connected with woodworking and coordinating the Italian presence in the main international trade exhibitions, in collaboration with the Italian Trade Commission. Acimall is organises visits to Italy by delegations of foreign entrepreneurs and technicians who wish to know the main features of the Italian industry and managing training activities for Italian representatives in countries considered crucial for Italian companies.

One of these training centres has been organised in Bangalore, India. Some recent trade fairs in which Italian companies from the sector participated include Fitecma 2010, from 2 to 6 March in Buenos Aires, and the 29th edition of Expobois, an important biennial exhibition of woodworking technologies and furniture accessories, which was held in Paris from10 to 13 March. In 2009 the main reference markets for the Italian woodworking machinery and accessory sector in the European Union were Belgium, France, Germany and Poland. Outside of Europe more than satisfactory results were achieved through relations with Brazil. At the same time, certain markets that had been traditionally profitable for the Italian woodworking machinery sector, such as Russia, Spain and the United States, showed a decrease. The impact of the more responsive foreign markets will certainly be a determining factor for results in 2010, for which a slow but steady recovery of production levels is expected.