The Asti region drives the packaging industry
Trend. Llast year the sector recorded a turnover of 550 millionIn the region there are around sixty companies employing over 3 thousand people
by Claudio Andrea Klun
3' min read
3' min read
For the third year in a row, the sector of automatic packaging machine manufacturers posted record growth at national level and Piedmont confirmed its position as one of the top Italian regions for packaging machines.
This is the picture that emerges from the figures for 2023 released by Ucima's Mecs Study Centre, which takes a snapshot of the industry's development every year.
In 2023, at national level, the sector recorded a total turnover of EUR 9.229 billion, an increase of 8% on the previous year. This is the third consecutive record, following 2021 and 2022. An important result, 78.7% of which was achieved on international markets totalling 7 billion 262 million euro and 21.3%, 1 billion 967 million euro, on domestic markets. In the breakdown of turnover between the various customer sectors, 2023 confirms a predominance of the food industry (food and beverage), which accounts for 57.1% of the total turnover.
The primary packaging machinery family remains predominant with 52.4% of turnover distribution, followed by the end-of-line, labelling and ancillary equipment segment (27.2%) and secondary packaging (which absorbs the remaining 20.4%).
Companies producing packaging and packaging machinery are mainly concentrated along the axis of the Via Emilia, the so-called Packaging Valley. Emilia-Romagna is home to 205 companies (34.5% of the total) that employ 21,881 people (57.3% of the total) and generate 62.6% of the total turnover, amounting to 5 billion 781 million euros. They are followed, in order, by Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont. The latter occupies fourth place in the ranking of regions with the largest number of companies dedicated to packaging. In fact, Piedmont has 60 companies, representing 10.2% of the total, and 3,135 employees, or 8.2% of the total. The aggregate turnover amounts to 554 million, or 6% of the total.
