First Quarter still Positive

According to ISTAT (the Italian institute for statistics) data on Italy's imports and exports of plastics and rubber processing machinery in the first quarter of 2012, both flows continue to show positive trends compared with the same period the previous year: +22% in the case of imports (this represents an acceleration with respect to previous surveys, driven above all by increased purchasing of mould and extruders) and +17% for overseas sales (this result instead represents a moderate slowdown, due to a weakening trend in the areas of extrusion plants and injection moulding machines).
Looking at the "top ten" markets for Italy's exports in this sector, a considerable increase emerges in supplies to Germany (+19%), France (+37%), the US (+34%), Poland (+30%), Brazil (+28%), and Turkey (+17%). Conversely, sales to China, India, Spain and the UK have dipped.