Italian manufacturers of machinery and equipment for agriculture, groundskeeping, earthmoving and associated components closed 2012 with a 3.5% increase in production overall to add to the consistent 9% gain recorded for 2011. These data were reported this morning in Castel Maggiore, Bologna, during the General Assembly of FederUnacoma, the federation in Confindustria, the National Manufacturers Federation, which represents industries in the sector.
Especially for tractors, Italian manufacturers turned out a total of 71,000 units in 2012 for an increase of 4.5% and a value set at 2.33 billion euros, ahead 4.7% over the previous year. For other agricultural machinery and equipment, production reached 630,000 tons overall for a 1.5% increase over 2011 and a value of 4.5 billion euros, up 2.4% over 2011.
Adding incomplete tractors and spare parts valued at 7.5 billion euro to total production in the agricultural sector, which includes gardening and the care and maintenance of greenery, the increase comes to 3.2% over the previous year and for earthmoving, with production up to 394,000 tons, the increase came to 2.3% over 2011 and the value reached 2.57 billion euro for an increase of 4.5% on 2011.
The increase in production was due solely to the trend of exports which closed 2012 up 7% in value for tractors and 7.9% ahead for other agricultural machinery while the domestic market was falling by 10% with tractors especially leading the way down, dropping by 17.5% with only 19,340 units sold to chalk up the worst result in the history of the sector since 1953.
This downward trend on the domestic market, persisting for the past five years, will be difficult to turn around in 2013 in light of the negative figures already reported for the first part of the year. Data on registrations in the first five months of the year – elaborated by FederUnacoma on the basis of registrations reported by the Ministry for Transport – in fact disclose a downturn of 1% for tractors compared to the same period in 2012, a 20.7% plunge for transporters and a 7.7% drop for trailers. Great growth was shown, however, for combine harvesters at plus 46% but this statistic is based on the small number of these units sold, 146 in the first five months of the year compared to 100 in the same period in 2012.
An announcement delivered during the assembly said the national market crisis will be specifically taken up by FederUnacoma with a targeted survey conducted on a widespread sample of farming enterprises for gaining an understanding of the impact of the country´s general economic conditions on this negative market trend and, on the other hand, the impact of specific characteristics in the agricultural production system.
Castel Maggiore (Bologna), 20 June 2013
Source: FederUnacoma
