After undergoing consistent decline for last four years, Italian textile machinery market has achieved marginal improvement since beginning of this year.
"Italian manufacturers have shown more confidence during this first few months of 2006," said Paolo Banfi, President of ACIMIT (Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers), at the annual press conference recently held at the association's administrative headquarters in Milan.
"In order to increase our competitive edge, Italian firms are boosting their presence on faraway Asian markets and developing technologies that suit various market niches. We have already seen some results", Banfi added.
India's demand for textile machinery in 2005 had surged to almost 30 percent and China too faced a substantial increase in demand. This year also Italian manufacturers are witnessing a similar repeat in demand from these countries with increased deliveries to the US, according to Banfi.
Notwithstanding the upbeat Italian machine market, the value of export went down last year compared to 2004.
This has been due to sluggishness of Turkish market, and a continuous decline witnessed in Germany, France and Spain markets coupled with reduced returns from Pakistan, Iran, Syria and Bangladesh.
Turkey? textile and garment industry problems may hinder buying of new machines, price fluctuation of materials and strengthening of euro are some other factors responsible to predict future market conditions.
"On the demand side, many industrialized countries are experiencing a recession in their textile sector; on the supply side, new competitors are emerging and traditional players consolidating," he stated.
