Pietro Cassani, chairman of the Italian ceramic machinery and equipment manufacturers’ association Acimac has released comments on the preliminary figures for 2010. “The fall in turnover suffered by the sector from late 2008 through 2009 finally bottomed out in 2010,” he said.

In the 12 months of 2010, the sector’s turnover is estimated to have risen slightly to €1.242 billion (~ $1 billion), up 1.2% compared to 2009.

This encouraging result has also confirmed the international scale of the Italian ceramic machinery industry, which generates more than 75% of its turnover from exports, according to the association. The strong international presence of Italian companies has enabled Italian ceramic machinery manufacturers to benefit in recent months from the recovery under way in a number of important regions, including the Middle East, Asia, and South America. These regions, Cassani said, “will play a crucial role in maintaining our world leadership in the next few years.”

The initial forecasts for next year are also positive. “Our companies are expecting an initial recovery in world markets in 2011,” he said, “allowing us to partly make up for the severe losses suffered in 2009 when the sector’s turnover plummeted by 33%. We are anticipating total turnover growth of between 10% and 15%.”

For more information, visit www.acimac.it.