Italian industrial production down in October: cars, chemicals and fashion down, metallurgy up

The September rebound is already evaporating.

With industrial production in October dropping one point compared to the previous month, 0.3% in trend terms. Not a collapse, certainly, but nevertheless the confirmation of a picture that remains fragile, in which half of the production sectors are in negative territory.

Weighing on the average are in particular the decline in chemicals and textiles-clothing, while the 'red' in transport equipment continues, driven down by motor vehicles, down almost 12 points. Metallurgy and rubber-plastics grew, as did machinery, which progressed slightly. For the capital goods area, in the face of exports in alternating phases, a partial boost to production is that provided by Transition 5.0, with orders acquired in recent months gradually moving into the assembly departments. A sector that is now waiting to understand the timing and methods of the new incentive measures, announced by the government as already operative from January, with the concrete hypothesis that unlike in the past, these will be rules valid on a multi-year basis, thus allowing companies to be able to plan interventions.

For industry, however, it was a complex year, with the production balance in the first ten months of the year improving only slightly to -0.6, while in the third quarter Istat recorded a negative contribution (-0.3%) in terms of added value.

Weakness that translates more generally into a limited GDP growth perspective, just 0.5%, down two decimal places from the already uninspiring 2024. Capacity utilisation, at just over 75 per cent, remains at its lowest level for four years and the main obstacle to production continues to be the scarcity of demand, the answer selected by one in four companies.