Approximately 415 million euros: this is the value of Italian exports to the US of foundry machinery in January-December 2007. In percentage terms, it represents 8.8% of Italy’s total exports in 2007, for a value of 4.717 million euros. To reinforce its presence in an area which already contributes to almost a tenth of the sector’s turnover, the ICE (Italian Trade Commission) is organizing an Italian delegation to attend Castexpo , together with AMAFOND – the umbrella organization for the Italian Foundry and Metallurgy Machinery.

The event, sponsored by the American Foundry Society (AFS) and by the North American fusion society, will take place in the United States at the Georgia World Congress Centre in Atlanta from 17^th to 20^th May2008. The event is organised every three years and is the main trade fair for North American producers and suppliers to the metallurgy industry. Castexpo’s last edition welcomed over 10 thousand sector operators, who were able to consider solutions, products and services displayed by 475 exhibitors. The upcoming edition also promises to attract thousands of decision-makers to Atlanta from all over the world, where they will be able to see the latest solutions in terms of equipment, technologies and services for foundry and metallurgy.

It is precisely on the technological prowess that the excellence of Italian-made foundry solutions is put to the test: in terms of process automation it offers groundbreaking solutions that are able to follow the entire production process from beginning to end. It is also thanks to the added high-tech value that Italian producers hope to dominate in international markets – exports are strong: 70% of plants built is for the foreign markets. The United States first and foremost is a prime opportunity for Italian companies thanks to highly dynamic trade relations – assuming that the recent downturn in the US economy does not negatively impact demand.

In the meantime, in the last two years there has been double digits growth in US imports in the foundry machinery and equipment sector (over 20% a year), reaching 2.5 billion dollars. In 2007, the value of Italian exports - of auxiliary foundry products, prepared binders for foundry cores and moulds, and of other auxiliary products used in the form of chemical preparations in the foundry - to the US has grown more than tenfold to 495 million euros, according to data provided by ICE and ISTAT (Italian Statistics Institute).

There are approximately 140 Italian manufacturers of foundry machinery, plants and equipment number (of which 85 are Amafond members), largely small- and medium-sized enterprises. There are however a few large players, the only ones to have relocated their production processes in the most dynamic markets for the sector, i.e. China, India and Brazil. Total employees are approximately 7,000.