Italian textile machinery orders fell by 19 per cent for the period from April to June 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. On foreign markets, Italian machinery manufacturers had to face geopolitical situations that have considerably slowed investments. So Turkey, Iran, and even China, all primary markets for the sector, recorded a drop in demand for textile machinery for a variety of reasons. On the domestic front, on the other hand, orders remained stationary compared to the second quarter of 2018.

Last year closed with a downswing both in terms of foreign sales and total production. The overall sentiment for 2019 isn’t very positive either. Italy is the world’s second largest producer of machinery for the textiles industry. In the production of machinery for tanning, and for the footwear and leather goods industry, Italy accounts for over 50 per cent of world production.

The order index for Italian textile machinery from October to December 2018 fell compared to the same period for 2017. The index value stood at 101.9 points. The trade surplus of the textile sector accounts for 25.4 per cent of the trade balance of the overall fashion-textile production chain although textiles account for only 15 per cent of total sales.