The annual members assembly of ASSOCOMAPLAST – the Italian trade association belonging to CONFINDUSTRIA, which groups together over 160 makers of machinery, moulds and equip-ment for plastics and rubber – was held on Friday, 19 June at the Science and Technology Mu-seum in Milan.

START PLAST has the objective of providing a seedbed for new projects in a venue where all the players necessary for launching a startup can be found and a very positive message can be sent out: it is still possible to do business in Italy.

The national Italian woodworking machinery and tools manufacturers' association ACIMALL recently published its Annual Report for 2013.

Antonio Marcegaglia, the chief executive of Italian Marcegaglia predicted that hot rolled coil (HRC) price should climb up by €20-€30/ton. He analyzed that this was mainly because Japan has been recovering from the disaster and China has been developing its housing plan.

The Italian plastics and rubber machinery and equipment manufacturers association Assocomaplast said the sector saw production value increase by more than 9% in 2010 - higher than the 8% growth figure predicted in December last year. The association says overall production value, according to information from its 170 members, increased 9.1% to €3.6bn.

Estimates from FEDERUNACOMA  and Comacomp indicate turnover increases of more than 20% for 70% of manufacturers in 2021.

​A total of 37 Italian packaging machinery manufacturers - predominantly members of Machines Italia’s partner association UCIMA - have responded to Confindustria’s appeal to

Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, the outlook for 2020 set out at the beginning of the year is now moot. An exogenous shock is hitting the USA and the global economy as a whole to an unknown extent.