Italian glaziers make cautious predictions

16 / 11 / 2021

The Italian glazing association GIMAV, widely represented at the Mir Stekla exhibition, this spring published data reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the productivity of the glass industry in 2020-2021 and outlined plans for the near future.

“Our industry was really put to the test by 2020,” stated GIMAV President, Michele Gusti. “Despite the pandemic that swept in waves across our sector and the ensuing lockdowns and border closures, the manufacturers of glass processing machinery and technologies acted swiftly to limit their losses, more successfully than their international competitors.”

Italy’s manufacturers of glass processing machinery and technologies closed 2020 with the overall sales volume of 2.027 million euro, a 16.6% decrease against 2019. There was a general drop in trade turnover (-14.2%), as well as in the trade balance (-16.1%).

At the same time, Italy’s glass industry companies fought back with extraordinary buoyancy and resilience, which resulted in better international market penetration. Flat glass processing technologies were the worst hit by the pandemic with lower revenues, exports and domestic sales throughout 2020. The results are slightly better for hollow glass processing technologies, which in 2020 limited sales losses to -8.9%. This is largely due to the fact that the hollow glass industry could keep working, being part of the supply chain considered strategic to national interests. This helped balance out the 15% drop in exports. The sector improved its own domestic market presence, but experienced a drop in international trade.

“It can be reasonably assumed, therefore, that the 2021 results could be better than forecast at the beginning of the year and, given the reduction in infections and the vaccination drive continuing at full speed, they could possibly come close to 2019 levels,” GIMAV Director Fabrizio Cattaneo said, adding, “Nevertheless, taking into account the unprecedented times we are living in and that we have not entirely put behind us, it seemed more judicious to propose an approximate ‘rounded down’ estimate that could possibly be reviewed as things improve in the future, rather than making a more optimistic forecast and then having to adjust it downward.”

Based on materials from: https://www.gimav.it/it/


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