“In mid-2013, Italian manufacturing is in a very critical condition. The two violent recessions have led to such a deep and prolonged fall in activity levels as to jeopardize tens of thousands of businesses", even if "Italy remains the seventh industrial power", but "its production base is put at risk the depth and duration of the decline in demand. Worrying words from the Confindustria Study Centre, which presents the study on industrial scenarios, explaining that in four years, from 2009 to 2012, "55 companies went out of business" and from 2007 to 2012 the "number of manufacturing companies decreased by about 8,3%, joint effect of registrations and terminations”, equal to 32 thousand units.
The crisis “has already caused the destruction of more than 15% of Italian manufacturing potential, with a peak of 40% in motor vehicles and drops of at least a fifth in 14 out of 22 sectors. In Germany, however, the potential has risen (+2,2 .XNUMX%), even if with high sectoral variance. The French and Spanish industries find themselves in similar conditions to the Italian ones”.
Among the sectors, the highest share of terminations occurred in the pharmaceutical, textile, leather goods and clothing sectors. “We have lost 15% of production capacity – explains the director of the Study Centre, Luca Paolazzi – this means that to return to pre-crisis levels, a recovery in demand is not enough, but we need to recreate a good chunk of production capacity'. According to the report, 'industrial development comes about only if it is pursued with determination by economic policies'.
