Italy — In a press conference on 26 May 2021, Emo Milano and German machine tool association VDW presented a preview of the upcoming trade fair to be held in Milan in October 2021. Barbara Colombo of Ucimu expressed her optimism that the industry is recovering, not least because of reviving international trade. Indeed, market figures point at a strong recovery looming on the horizon.
EMO Milano is set to take place in October 2021.
(Source: EMO Milano)
Emo Milano 2021, the leading world exhibition for metalworking industry, will take place at fieramilano Rho from 4 to 9 October. By then, the investment activity should have rebound already, the organizers hope. Germany and Italy in particular are forecast to experience an increase in both machine tool demand and production, Ucimu-President Barbara Colombo highlighted during a conference on 26 May 2021. Vivid exhibitor registration — with companies from 32 countries —, the Green Pass issued by the EU making travelling easier and an ambitious stimulus programme by the Italian government are adding to the positive mood on part of the industry associations from Italy and Germany.
Italy, Germany, Taiwan, Spain, Japan, Switzerland, China and Korea are among the most represented countries in the list of the exhibitors that will participate in the world travelling trade show. The list is extending day by day thanks to the applications that keep coming in. Numbers are expected to grow in the next two months, in conjunction with the ongoing vaccination campaign all over the world. Germany is the first country after Italy in number of exhibitors, more than one hundred, as well as in exhibition area.
Luigi Galdabini, General Commissioner of Emo Milano 2021, stated: “The expectations of the sector operators are very high, as a testimony to the firm intention of the manufacturing world to return to normality. Indeed, a large number of applications to exhibit have already been received at the Secretariat Office and their collection goes on swiftly. However, we expect that it will further intensify in the next weeks, thanks to the more and more widespread distribution of vaccines to the global population”.
Moreover, the Italian Government set up special fiscal incentives, which consist of tax credit up to 50 percent, for Italian companies investing in new machine tools, robots, automation systems, 4.0 and digital technologies in 2021 and 2022. This is a great business opportunity for all the exhibitors of all over the world and especially for German companies which have a strong business relation with Italian ones, the speakers emphasised.
Overall market situation of the machine tool sector in Europe
Regarding consumption, amounting to 57,4 billion euro in 2020, the most important markets were China, the USA, Germany, Japan and Italy. All of these countries are widely represented among the visitors of Emo Milano. After a difficult year 2020, 2021 is expected to change the trend.
Indeed, according to the forecasts processed by Oxford Economics, after the big fall registered in 2020, the year 2021 should bring about a recovery in machine tool consumption worldwide, expected to grow to 62.7 billion euro, (Asia 35 billion euro, +16.2 percent; Europe 16 billion euro, +13.3 percent; Americas 11 billion euro, +14.5 percent). Focusing on Europe, in 2021 both Italy (3.1 billion euro, + 10.1 percent) and Germany (4.9 billion euro, +8.7 percent) should again see a plus sign with regard to investment in production technologies. The growth trend is confirmed for both countries also in the two-year period 2022-2023.
Germany and Italy have a strong business relationship in our sector. In 2020 Germany was the second main area of destination of Made in Italy of the sector. On the other hand, German was the first Italian supplier of machine tools. The growth trend is confirmed for both Italy and Germany also in the two-year period 2022-2023. A further positive indicator is the Italian machine tool order index that, in the first quarter of 2021, showed a 49 percent upturn. The overall outcome was mainly due to the excellent performance of Italian manufacturers on the domestic market. Indeed, on the internal market, Italian manufacturers registered a 158 percent increase in the collected orders compared with the same period of the previous year.
Date: 08.12.2025
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