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MACHINERY FOR CERAMICS, AN ITALIAN RECORD
Rome - (Ign) - Technological/product research and innovation, the creation of a process of aggregation between small and medium-sized companies, further improvements in product reliability and versatility. These are some of the ingredients which have made it possible for Italian industries in the field of machinery and equipment for ceramics to relaunch their presence on the world's markets, ending 2004 with growth of almost 14% on 2003, and announcing a 2005 which, while not achieving the levels of the previous year, will allow them to consolidate their position of leadership on international markets. Growing over the decades alongside and together with the great Italian ceramics industry, above all in the districts of Emilia, the Italian companies dedicated to building machinery for the production of tiles, bathroom fittings, bricks and crockery (www.acimac.it) experienced extraordinary growth throughout the 80s and 90s, and became a major international presence. This development process, moving onto the markets of the whole world, has been made possible by close links with customers, leading to a highly effective synergic network, able to respond to the changes imposed by technological evolution, product innovation and environmental and energy restrictions. The Italian industry of machinery for ceramics has thus become not only one of the most active and important on a world scale, but also, if not above all, one of those most technologically advanced, able to respond like perhaps no other to changing production needs.
It is thus with justified pride that the Association of Manufacturers in the sector has recently outlined the results of a year full of positive surprises. In 2004, the 175 Italian companies operating in the sector in fact achieved an overall turnover of almost €1.6 billion (with growth of 13.6 percent on 2003), 1.15 billion of which was realised on foreign markets, accounting for 72%. It was then above all exports which allowed these results, despite the competitive disadvantage of a currency which remains extremely strong against the dollar, and growing competition from certain emerging countries, above all at the more economical ends of the market. And, unlike in recent years, EU countries have also responded positively to Italian ceramic products, with sales up by 24%. But the great leap forward was made in the Middle East, where purchases of Italian ceramics machinery increased in one year by 54%, for a value of almost €300 million. Of lesser dimensions, but nevertheless exceptional, were the increases of sales recorded to the countries of Eastern Europe, with growth of 39%, achieving levels of €150 million, and to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, with growth of 20%, up to a value of almost € 100 million.
Over 80% of turnover was realised through direct supplies to tile manufacturers, which remain, also internationally, the main customers of the manufacturers of machinery for ceramics. The main types of machinery are presses for product moulding and kilns, but also increasingly sophisticated systems for the decoration and surface treatment of materials, and for packaging and palletising the finished product. This then, is an extremely complex industrial sector, in which continuous innovation has made it possible to maintain the position of a benchmark for all the world's markets.
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