Good results for Italian mould exports
Italian exports of moulds for plastics and rubber (which account for over a quarter of the sector's overseas sales) held up pretty well throughout the whole of 2012, recording an increase of 17% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2011, with the corresponding value exceeding the 500 million euro mark.
In January-September 2012 the top five destination markets for Italian moulds were: Germany (which imported Italian moulds worth over 155 million euros, +4.9% on 2011); France (over 34 million euros, -12.5%); Poland (32 million euros, +25.4%); the Czech Republic (around 23 million euros, +27.4%); and Austria (just under 20 million euros, +50.8%). Looking at the figures of those countries that imported at least 10 million euros' worth of Italian moulds, there emerge some significant positive changes between 2011 and 2012: Turkey recorded an increase from 10.6 to 17.5 million euros; Serbia from just over half a million to almost 17 million; Russia from 12 to over 15 million; the USA from 9.8 to 13 million; Mexico, from 8.4 to 11.2 million; and Romania from just under 4 to almost 11 million.