MILAN, Sept. 17 (Class Editori) - "The Italian pavilion has been the only foreign pavilion to be admitted to the exhibition and the interest shown by Chinese companies for made in Italy technologies has been significant". According to Giampaolo Bruno, ICE Commissioner in Beijing, the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) was closed yesterday in Shanghai with good results: not only because it has been the first physical fair to be attended by Italian companies – even 47 – after the COVID-19 pandemic, but also for the sentiment in respect of made in Italy, despite global economic pressures which had an impact on the first semester data.
Italian exports of machineries and equipment towards China, the first item of the balance of trade, reached about €1.6 billion, with a drop by 18.8% compared to the same period in 2019. Imports from China have been slightly more than 2 billion (-4.6%), therefore causing a deficit of €431 million. Last year, the balance was positive for Italy of more than a hundred of millions: this trend is being recorded for 10 years, even though is constantly decreasing. From 2 billion in 2011, we have indeed reached 109 million in 2019.
Obviously, everybody's eyes are on recovery signals in this second semester, which have been previously projected by some positive data. Tiziano Sandonini, product vice president of Santoini (Shanghai) Knitting Machinery, has declared that their activities in China have been developing faster than other countries after the pandemic.
Paolo Bazzoni, president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in China, has tried to give a drive by signing an agreement with Sumec, a Chinese B2B platform, already in partnership with Italy, which may accelerate the business in the following months.
Bruno has stressed the fact that China and Italy could start many collaborations in the next future, which is also the reason why to take part in the CIIF. "China embraces the new cycle of industrial revolution and decides to build a new development model, known as 'dual circulation', which considers the domestic market as the central one, by allowing, in the meantime, the domestic and the foreign market to mutually reinforcing", as the manager has explained. He also believes that Italy may play an important primary role in this phase with the aim of helping China to develop and modernise itself in the manufacturing sector, one of the main targets of the new five-year plan, which will enter into force from next January.
A single purchase
