Italy will once again have a strong presence at K 2025. Nearly 400 Italian companies in the plastics and rubber supply chain have registered for the K Fair. After the German hosts, Italy will again have the strongest presence among European nations and third overall, behind China.

More than 300 Italian businesses in the machinery, equipment, auxiliaries, and molds sector will be exhibiting their latest solutions, covering all plastics and rubber processing technologies with focus on energy savings and generally on sustainability, digitalization, customization, and process efficiency.

Italian machinery exports to Germany and US continue to slow down

In 2024, Italian manufacturers sold plastics and rubber processing machinery to Germany worth a total of 415 million euros, representing a 2-point drop with respect to 2023. Sales for the first half of 2025 amount to 183 million, evidencing persistent weakness.

A significant share of these sales consists of auxiliaries, components, and molds that are integrated into production lines built by German manufacturers. The strong drop in demand the Germans have witnessed over the past three years has inevitably affected their Italian partners.

Some signs of a turnaround have emerged in recent months but the latest challenges induced by the tariff policies adopted by the US are the source of considerable concern for the industry.

For both German and Italy, the United States represent the second-largest export market and the reciprocal 15% tariffs, compounded by new 50% duties on the steel and aluminum components for machinery, equipment, and molds for plastics and rubber processing, represent a serious threat to European suppliers.

In 2024, Italian exports for the sector to the United States amounted to about EUR 350 million, slightly lower than in 2023. In the first six months of 2025 the variation moved into positive territory, but effects of the new duties are still uncertain.

This performance must be viewed within the broader context of a slowdown in Italian exports of plastics and rubber processing machinery, which overall fell by 8% compared to January-June 2024, according to ISTAT data.

Italian machinery exports across the globe vary

Sales have fallen, to greater or lesser degrees, across almost all geographical areas, with the sole exception of Asia, thanks to excellent performance in the Far East, driven principally by Chinese (+54%) and Indian (+9%) demand.

These two destinations have returned encouraging results in recent months, and it is understandable that Italian manufacturers are focusing their commercial strategies on markets that are less affected by the current economic turbulence.

Exports to the United States remain fairly strong, those to Mexico (another key market in the region) have witnessed a sharp downturn (-42%).

Italy's intra-European exports have contracted by ten points, weighed down by the -13% to Germany and negative results for other major markets such as France, Spain, and Turkey.

The Middle East (-23%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (-48%) have fared particularly badly and declines are recorded also in Central and South America (-9%) and North Africa (-7%).