At a recent meeting of Assomac, the association representing Italian manufacturers of machines for the shoe, leathergoods and tannery industries, members discussed challenges facing the industry and measures designed to protect it in Europe. The sector is facing serious difficulties due to changes in world competition rules, the growth of China and the overvalued euro.

Giovanni Gaia, president of Assomac, commented, "Assomac's first institutional objective is to safeguard the identity of our sector. We're trying to reach this objective by addressing the efforts of the associates on the basis of three general guidelines. The first one is the safeguarding of the western shoe-manufacturing activity, because we feel that without a hard shoe-manufacturing clog in the west, our sector will disperse. The second one is technological innovation, which is the prerogative and winning characteristic of our companies and our products. The third one is synergy between the companies because only through eventual synergies can we find the resources for reacting to this situation." 

The association is currently working to provide improved economic/commercial competition rules including anti-dumping measures. The association has doubled its operational capacity and now provides more activities and guidance for associate companies.

In 2004, Italy’s exports of shoe-manufacturing machinery diminished by 10.79%. The sector, which still accounts for 59.61% of the overall leather machinery export business, is expected to be dominated by Asia who will become a major client for the Italian constructors of leather products manufacturing machinery. In contrast to the shoe and leather-goods manufacturing machines, tanning machine exports has shown a 6.71% increase in the last six months, mainly due to China. In 2004, with an increase of almost 24%, it accounted for 43.82% of Italy’s export business.

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