More Europe for Italian machines

Assocomaplast's account of Italy's export of plastics and rubber processing machinery in the first quarter of 2013 describes the various trends in sales on a geographical level, compared to the same period in 2012 and 2011. The report by the Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and moulds manufacturers' Association indicates a notable increase in exports within Europe - the area of greatest historical significance - compared to a more modest growth in other areas like America and Asia.
In detail, the general trend between 2011 and 2013 saw Europe (representing 60.9% of the total between January and June 2013) register a growth of +12.8%. In this context, Russia, Poland and the UK were among the top ten markets to have registered the greatest increase, of 31.2%, 24.5% and 13.5% respectively.
America (18.6% of the total) gained +8.8% thanks to an increase of more than 11 per cent in the US, while Asia (14.3%) registered +2.3%, with a decrease of 4.8% in China but an overall increase of 4.9% in India; this result was also influenced by a decrease of 5.7% in the Middle East.
Africa (5.5%) registered an increase of 6.2%, with the sub-Saharan region at +7.5% and North Africa at +5.5%. Oceania (0.7%), instead, registered an increase of 6.9%.