Valves for Oil & Gas, Italian exports grow twice as fast as the world average

Not only did 2024 confirm the growth trend of the Italian valve industry, but it was also a year of strong growth in exports in the Oil%Gas sector, which increased by 16.9%, twice as much as the growth marked by world trade in the sector (+8.5%), thus closing the gap accumulated over the last five years.

Italy has consolidated its position in strategic markets such as Western Europe and the Middle East, with market shares above the weight of these areas on global imports, and has maintained its third position worldwide among oil & gas valve exporters, behind China and Germany. The data emerge from the Ivs-Prometeia Observatory, carried out in collaboration with the Confindustria Bergamo study centre, presented yesterday morning in Milan at the launch of the sixth edition of Ivs - Industrial Valve Summit, the biennial event dedicated to industrial valve technologies and flow control solutions, organised by Confindustria Bergamo with Promoberg, which will take place from 19 to 21 May 2026.

The Observatory therefore photographs a healthy sector that, recalls the vice-president for internationalisation of Confindustria Lombardia, Claudia Persico, has 139 companies, about 10 thousand employees, and an average annual turnover of 3.4 billion euros. A sector in which Italy is the European leader, with 36.6% of total production, and whose production is largely concentrated in Lombardy, particularly in the province of Bergamo where, within a radius of 100 km from the capital, more than 100 companies operate, generating 90% of the sector's Italian turnover.

"Export is a fundamental lever for the growth of the sector," emphasises Claudia Persico, "which is why Ivs was created ten years ago at the behest of a group of entrepreneurs in the sector whom, as Confindustria Bergamo, we have supported. The fair, which in 2024 registered 15 thousand participants from 69 countries and next year will expand with two additional pavilions and a three-day programme, aims precisely at supporting the internationalisation of the Italian valve industry. Driving demand last year were mainly Middle Eastern countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, where Italian exports grew at double the rate of competitors, thanks to projects not only in oil & gas but also in infrastructure.

The outlook for the sector's performance over the next few years remains positive, despite some concerns linked to the profound transformations that awaitthe sector, linked above all to the issue of energy transition. In fact, demand for valves for the hydrocarbon sector is still strong, although already in the first quarter of this year Italian exports showed signs of normalisation, following record growth in 2024, with a 6.8% drop.