In an increasingly competitive global scenario influenced by the international conflicts and pandemics emergencies, uncertainty and instability loom in the global economic environment with strong downside risks slowing down the global economy.
The mechanical engineering industry plays an important role in all industrial countries, including Italy, both in terms of quantity, employment, added value and international trade, and in terms of its strategic role. Let’s see what are the prospects for this sector for 2023 analyzing and summarizing a recent research by Federmeccanica (link to https://www.federmeccanica.it/).
Industrial production
After the first half of 2022, that was characterized by mixed signals, in July-September the metal and mechanical production activity showed ups and downs.
Production in the European Union has been strongly affected by the effects of supply chains and the dynamics of raw material prices caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Short-term forecast for the mechanical sector
The forecast indicators contained in the quarterly survey, confirm the worsening of the situation highlighted in the previous survey. Further increases in energy and raw material prices, due to the prolongation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and zero-policy weigh on forecasts covid adopted by China, contributes to increasing difficulties in global supply chains.
(source Federmeccanica)
The mechanical industry in Italy
In Italy, the mechanical sector employs 1,600,000 people, making it the second largest in Europe after Germany. It produces wealth for about 110 billion euros. It exports goods for more than 200 billion that represent more than half of the sectoral turnover. Its trade surplus (about 50 billion euros) contributes to the total rebalancing of the Italian trade balance, structurally deficit in the energy and agri-food sectors.
(fonte Federmeccanica)
