In the fourth quarter of last year, the production of Italian foundries recorded a quarterly growth of 3.3% compared to the previous three months but was confirmed, for the third consecutive quarter, in decline compared to the same period of 2022: the final figure for the period October- December 2023 is down by 12.2% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2022. These are data from the economic survey of the study center of Assofond, the Confindustria association that represents Italian foundries.
The economic growth "is mainly due to the greater number of days worked compared to the previous quarter, which included the month of August, a period in which prolonged production stops for the summer holidays and scheduled maintenance of the plants are concentrated", explains the survey.
55.9% of the companies that responded to the questionnaire reported an increase in production compared to the previous quarter but, confirming what was highlighted above, 50% of the responses indicated the greater number of days worked as the main reason for performance, while 29.2 % of responses justify the data with a growth in orders and orders.
The short-term expectations of foundry entrepreneurs, in the month of December 2023, are further decreasing compared to those recorded in November: the Six index (which summarizes the responses on the companies' prospects for the six months following the survey) decreases from 39.8 at 36.4 points, therefore still placed at values well below the threshold of 50 points, which represents the transition between positive and negative sentiment.
The majority of the sample is pessimistic (59.1%) and positive opinions (4.5%) and expectations of stationarity (36.4%) are decreasing, concludes Assofond.
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