Production drops sharply in 2024 Ucimu warns of tough year for Italian machine tool industry

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After a turbulent 2024 marked by sharp declines in domestic demand, Italy’s machine tool industry is cautiously optimistic about a modest recovery in 2025. While exports reached a new record, overall production and consumption suffered significant setbacks.

The year 2024 proved to be particularly challenging for Italy’s machine tool, robotics, and automation industry, with significant declines across nearly all key economic indicators. The only exception was exports, which showed a modest increase. Despite these setbacks, the Italian industry maintained its global standing, ranking fifth in world production and fourth in exports.

Forecasts for 2025 indicate a slight improvement compared to 2024, although the expected results are not brilliant. This is, in brief, the picture illustrated by the president of Ucimu-Sistemi per Produrre, Riccardo Rosa, during the Members’ Meeting, which was also attended by the president of Federacciai (Federation of Italian Steel Companies), Antonio Gozzi.

According to the data processed by the Economic Studies Department & Business Culture Centre of Ucimu, in 2024, the Italian production of machine tools, robots and automation systems amounted to 6,327 million euro, showing a 16.9 percent downturn versus 2023.

The outcome was due to the heavy reduction in the deliveries of Italian manufacturers on the domestic market, falling by 39.5 percent to 2,054 million euro, weighed down by the collapse in domestic consumption, which did not exceed 3,707 million euro, i.e. 36.3 percent less than in the previous year. Imports also suffered, standing at 1,653 million euro, -31.8 percent.

A different performance was highlighted by Italian companies on foreign markets, as confirmed by the data of exports, which moderately grew by 1.2 percent to 4,273 million euro, achieving a new record for the sector.

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The exports-to-production ratio increased from 55.5 percent in 2023 to 67.5 percent in 2024.

In 2024, the main export markets for the Italian product offering were: United States (629 million euro, +10.9 percent), Germany (365 million euro, +1.6 percent), China (240 million euro, -16.3 percent), France (204 million euro, -17.6 percent), Turkey (190 million euro, -10.3 percent), India (185 million euro, +58.3 percent), Mexico (176 million euro, -9.9 percent), Poland (169 million euro, -21.5 percent), Spain (157 million euro, +21.1 percent), Sweden (92 million euro, +71.4 percent).

A decrease was reported in the utilization rate of production capacity, whose annual average changed from 86.2 percent in 2023 to 77.3 percent in 2024. The same trend was also recorded with regard to the order portfolio, which stood at 6.5 months of guaranteed production versus 7.3 months in the previous year.

The turnover of the sector did not exceed 9,340 million euro.

Forecast 2025

As shown in the forecasts provided by the Economic Studies Department & Business Culture Centre of Ucimu, in 2025 the Italian machine tool, robot and automation industry should experience a slight recovery. All indicators should return to positive territory, but the increases are likely to be extremely small.

Production should reach 6,490 million euro (+2.6 percent). Exports are expected to grow again (+1 percent) and achieve a new record of 4,315 million euro.

Deliveries on the domestic market should increase again (+5.9 percent), accounting for 2,175 million euro, supported by the slow recovery of domestic consumption, which will should rise to 3,910 million euro (+5.5 percent). Imports should also show a positive sign, attaining 1,735 million euro (+4.9 percent).

At his first Members’ Meeting, Riccardo Rosa, president of Ucimu, stated: “After a complicated 2024, the year 2025 should give us some more satisfaction, but now more than ever, we must use the conditional mood, considering the succession of really worrying phenomena, from trade to military wars. All this makes our work more difficult and requires companies to make a great effort to improve their competitiveness. To do this, we must keep on investing in innovation, contextual knowledge and professional training”.

“Thanks to interconnection, data management, sensors, remote vision and control systems and artificial intelligence, state-of-the-art machine tools are real enablers of the digital and green transformation of factories. We are proud of how much and how our little world, mainly made up of SMEs, has contributed to the advancement of the Italian manufacturing industry, but we are aware that this development was also possible thanks to the 4.0 and 5.0 measures that supported and stimulated the market”, said President Rosa and added: “In a crucial moment like that we are currently experiencing, with extremely weak domestic and foreign demands, incentive tools measures are indispensable to support the progressive and necessary change. Another reason is that Germany, our first point of reference in Europe, will soon have a plan to support and relaunch its industry. If the German locomotive restarts, we — at the first wagon of this train that has never stopped until now — must be ready and remain coupled to it, in order to be able to continue working in the production chains of Made in Germany, which, leaving aside the issue of tariffs, travels on very long routes, distributing our production all over the world.”

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