Despite the economic crisis, Italian textile machinery sector showed signs of a recovery in sales in the fourth quarter of 2011, after two negative quarters, says the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT) in its recent press release.

The association notes that orders for Italian textile machinery were on the rise again during the last quarter of 2011 after two quarters of fall down, according to results gathered by ACIMIT's quarterly survey.

Overall orders for the period from October to December 2011 rose up by 28% over the previous quarter, at a value of 90.2 points (base value of 100 in 2005). The most significant increase regarded orders in foreign markets (+32%), whereas on the domestic market orders were up by 15%.

"We're still far from the levels achieved in 2010," comments Sandro Salmoiraghi, President of ACIMIT, "but this recovery, compared to the mid months of 2011, confirms the dynamic nature of our manufacturers."

He adds, "Despite the current difficult conditions in global markets, our manufacturers have managed to catch the business opportunities available in major foreign markets, especially China, Turkey and India, as well as the United States and Brazil."

According to the association, the situation on the domestic market remains more difficult to resolve, however, and the revival in investments recorded over the past three months is certainly a positive sign, but the gap remains large with current trends abroad.

The association says that the expectations of Italian machinery manufacturers for the first quarter of 2012 remain cautious, above all regarding the domestic market. "Economic uncertainty, combined with increased difficulties due to the danger of a credit crunch, are stopping investments of our Italian customers," the ACIMIT President concludes.