Bergamo/IT (UCIMU) – Giancarlo Losma, President of UCIMU-Sistemi per Produrre, says: “The current negative market situation means we must turn our attention to those countries and markets ensuring the best margins for growth and development. In this regard, the Balkans – thanks to a lively economy and a favourable geographical location – offer opportunities that Italian constructors cannot ignore”.
Bergamo was home to the “Balkans Project: opportunities for Italian machine tools and related fields” organised by UCIMU-Sistemi per Produrre, the Italian association of machine tool, robot and automation manufacturers, in collaboration with ICE, the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade.
The meeting was attended by more than one hundred guests, including Italian entrepreneurs, international users and journalists. It was moderated by Roberto Iotti, editor-in-chief of economy and companies of financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Speakers at the convention, alongside Giancarlo Losma, President of UCIMU-Sistemi per Produrre, Ferdinando Fiore, Responsible for the Instrumental Goods Area of ICE, Giacomo Vaciago, Professor of Economic Policies, Faculty of Economics, Cattolica del Sacro Cuore University in Milan, Silvano Fini, factory director of Ducati Motor, and Carlo Mazzoleni, President of the Confindustria engineering section in Bergamo.
The objective of the convention was to present the results of the survey analysing the opportunities for Italian constructors of machine tools, robots, automation and auxiliary technologies in the Balkans area that in 2008 was the fifth main outlet area for Made by Italians of the sector in Europe.
The study focused on: Albania, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia (ASCS area), where very interesting development rates are now being achieved. This is confirmed by average GDP growth rates for these four countries that, in the period 2002 to 2007, came to 7.7 percent, compared to 4.5 percent for GDP in the European Union.
In the four years in question, Italian exports of machine tools to ASCS countries more than doubled, with an average growth rate of 16.3 percent.
Albania and Serbia are the most lively markets, although the value of machine tools sold in the two countries is not comparable. In the period 2002-2007, exports of machine tools to Albania grew from 0.5 million euro to 2 million euro. The average growth rate was 33.2 percent.
The value of sales for “Made by Italians” of the sector in Serbia was more impressive, improving in the reference period from 2.8 million to 13.7 million euro, with an average growth rate equal to 36.9 percent.
“In any case,” as Giancarlo Losma summed up, “business opportunities in the area are very interesting not the least because modernisation and development of productive plants are a priority in all four countries. The average age of the total number of machines installed in local industry, in short, is about twenty years. Over and above a generic need for modernisation of production systems, local companies must also focus on automation and integration, to ensure lower costs and higher productivity, as well as safety and eco-sustainability, topics that are always in the forefront of all government policies”.

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