Italy’s textile-machinery makers are staring at a thin order book: a sharp late-year slide and a 2.9-month backlog leave little margin for error—despite a bright spot in India.
Italian textile-machinery manufacturers ended 2025 on a weak note. Orders in the fourth quarter fell 36% year on year, reflecting a stubbornly difficult global market and a sudden chill at home.
The demand shock
Both fronts deteriorated. Domestic orders plunged 50% versus Q4 2024, while foreign orders dropped 34%. Compared with the prior quarter (July–September 2025), total intake was down 25%. The orders index for October–December came in at 31.5 (2021=100), with Italy at 28.4 and overseas markets slightly firmer at 31.9. For the full year, orders were 22% lower than in 2024 (-28% domestic; -21% foreign). By end-December, the backlog covered only about 2.9 months of production.
The implications for industry
A short backlog compresses visibility, discourages capacity investment and raises the premium on after-sales service and retrofit work. Segment performance is uneven: spinning looks comparatively more dynamic, suggesting that parts of the value chain are still investing while others pause.
What to watch in 2026
Forecasts for Q1 2026 remain cautious, though some firms expect stability or modest improvement quarter on quarter. ACIMIT’s president, Marco Salvadè, points to encouraging export signals: in the first ten months of 2025, shipments to India rose 46.7%, making it the top destination. Recovery, he argues, will hinge on innovation, quality—and staying close to strategic markets.
