Further positive signals

The official statistics for the first half of 2010, released by ISTAT and worked out by Assocomaplast, show a good recovery in Italian foreign trade of plastics and rubber machinery. Imports and exports grew, respectively, by 27.5% and 6% with respect to January-June 2009. These results are very encouraging and confirm the dramatic change of trend, amplifying the positive signals recorded in May and the growth in both areas registered in the past few months.
These results are also confirmed by Assocomaplast's latest monthly survey, conducted at the end of August, among its members regarding their forecasts for the rest of the year: 44% of interviewed companies expected further improvements over the first half in their order logbooks and sales, which had already registered significant gains over the first half of 2009, while 43% predicted stability.