Destinations for export

The official statistics released by ISTAT for the first half of 2010 confirm that Europe, with a 56% share, remains the most important destination area of Italian sales abroad of plastics and rubber machinery, although a downward trend is still seen, at least in non-EU countries. However, the most recent survey by Assocomaplast among its members reveals a widespread trend toward increasing optimism for orders in this area.Sales in the Americas (more than 19% of the total) resumed strong growth (+27%), especially in South America. This is sustained in particular by surging exports to Brazil, which now ranks fifth among the destination markets for Italian exports in the sector with an excellent performance (+26%) over the last three-year period.As for the Asian region, the highest share (12% of the total) of the Italian exports of plastics and rubber machinery is absorbed by the Far East, which grew by 22%. This considerable improvement is mainly due to the upswing in sales to China, where the Italian manufacturers have recovered their quotas lost in 2009 and 2008.The Near- and Middle East area accounts for about 6% of exports, shrinking by 2%.