Robots: orders from abroad are booming, but Italia is struggling

“Following an initial rebound,” confirms Valentino Valentini, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MIMIT), “there is now a moment of uncertainty. However, the scheme provides funding of ten billion over three years, giving businesses a clear outlook for investment and enabling them to plan their activities.”

A tour of the stands and discussions with business owners do indeed confirm these observations, with the Italian market not looking particularly promising. “Although it must be said,” explains Mauro Biglia, a Piedmontese entrepreneur and head of the lathe company of the same name, “that if there are any negotiations in Italia today, they always revolve around hyper-depreciation, which is systematically taken into account by anyone looking to invest.”

“Domestic demand,” adds Rosa, “remains weak despite the numerous negotiations currently under way. The uncertainty of the international environment and rising energy costs are having a clear impact on the activities of operators in our country’s manufacturing sector, who are postponing investments whilst awaiting greater clarity. We are therefore confident that Italian demand will regain momentum, supported in part by the hyper-depreciation scheme which, in its version 5.0, allows for better investment planning, with investments able to be spread out until September 2028.” Although the -7.1 per cent figure for Italia is certainly not impressive, the picture is nonetheless less negative than in the past, with orders in the first and second quarters in Italia down by 29 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.

The situation is better, however, in markets outside Italy, where orders are growing at double-digit rates, thanks in particular to the United States.

“Defence and energy are still driving growth there,” explains Matteo Mattuzzi, Pama’s sales director; “demand for data centre components is also picking up,” adds Biglia.

“As well as the United States,” Rosa adds, “Germany is also worth mentioning, as it is beginning to show signs of recovery: this is certainly good news for the Italian industry in this sector.”

According to data compiled by the Ucimu Research Centre, in the first half of the year the main export markets for Italian products in this sector were, in fact, the United States (€329 million, up 12.6 per cent) and Germany (€137 million, up 7.6 per cent), followed by France, Poland and Spain.

In sectoral terms, whilst demand from the automotive sector – the industry’s main market – continues to be sluggish, there is, by contrast, growing demand in the defence and aerospace sectors, regardless of the geographical area concerned.

“We are currently witnessing momentous changes in both geopolitical and technological terms,” explains Gian Piero Cutillo, co-managing director of Leonardo, “and in our case, as is the case for our sector in general, there is a clear excess of demand. We are doing everything we can to meet demand, although the issue is not just one of production capacity but also of the time required for development.” The situation is quite the opposite, in terms of the balance between supply and demand, for the European car industry, which is paying an increasingly high price to its Chinese competitors. ‘Whilst four years ago the Chinese share of the car market in Italia stood at 2 per cent,’ explains Anfia’s president, Roberto Vavassori, ‘today it stands at 15 per cent, and we’re not getting anywhere like this. The solution? To return to innovation and investment, once again making Europe a leading global player. In Italia alone, there are 1,600 billion in private funds sitting idle in current accounts – resources that could provide a decisive boost.”