Trend
• In 2021 , the turnover totalled 2.5 billion euros , an increase of 24.3 % on 2020 .
• Exports grew by 18.2 % despite the difficulties and obstacles to free trade .
• The first third of 2022 shows a positive trend for sector exports , now stably at pre-pandemic values .
The new president of GIMAV , Dino Zandonella Necca , had this to say about last year ’ s final figures : “ The data presented by the GIMAV Research Centre show that in 2021 the glass-processing machinery and technology industry managed , despite the evident difficulties , to recover ground lost in 2020 , which was a dreadful year dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic . Despite the persistence of some obstacles to trade on the international market and disruptions in the supply chains of raw materials and components , the resilience shown by Italian companies in this sector has been commendable .”
A look back at 2021 In 2021 , the sector recorded a turnover of 2.5 billion euros , which represents an increase of 24.3 % on 2020 . As for the different “ families ” making up this industry , Flat Glass grew by 27.7 %, Hollow Glass by 17.5 %, and Accessories and other Technologies for Glass Processing by 23.5 % compared with 2020 . This performance , which corresponds to a 3.6 % increase compared with the pre-crisis period ( i . e ., 2019 ), has allowed the sector to recover from the 2020 slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic . Accessories and Other Technologies for Glass Processing recorded the best performance (+ 11.6 %), followed by Hollow Glass (+ 7 %). Flat Glass , on the other hand , ended 2021 slightly down on its prepandemic level ( −3.9 %), yet still made a remarkable recovery compared with 2020 , which had seen it slump to −24.8 %. The sector remains highly competitive internationally , reaffirming its global leadership with an export / turnover ratio of 68 %, even though this result is slightly down on 2020 . On a positive note , exports grew by 18.2 %: Accessories and Other Technologies for Glass Processing performed best in this regard (+ 22.7 %), followed by Hollow Glass (+ 15.9 %), and Flat Glass (+ 14.8 %). This result is particularly commendable considering the various obstacles to free trade that characterised 2021 , such as continuing restrictions on international travel , growing freight costs , and difficulties sourcing components . The post-2020 recovery was underpinned by an excellent performance in terms of deliveries on the Italian market (+ 39.8 %), which , in turn , was driven by strong domestic demand : + 60.8 % for Flat Glass , + 22.5 % for Hollow Glass and + 25.5 % for Flat Glass . Compared with pre-pandemic ( i . e ., 2019 ) performances , deliveries to the domestic market grew , in value terms , by 10.8 % overall , with Hollow Glass recording an excellent + 44.1 %, followed by Accessories and Other Technologies for Glass Processing with + 13.9 %, and Flat Glass with + 2.6 %. Although imports have been boosted by domestic demand (+ 26.7 %), Italian companies have succeeded in tightening their grip on the national market , as demonstrated by the 2021 domestic deliveries / national market ratio , which at 63.2 % represented an increase of 2.3 % on the previous year . “ The machinery and technologies for glass processing sector has shown an excellent ability to recover and adapt to the situation on the international markets , which has been influenced by various fac-
RIVISTA DEL VETRO
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