Politicians and industrialists from Emilia are ready to bet that the forecasts just published by Prometeia, which give the region’s GDP to grow by +0.5% in this 2023 compressed by price increases and inflation, are excessively cautious and bearish, as has been demonstrated in the last two years (2022 closed with +4%, against the +2.5% expected at the beginning of the year and above the Italian and European average, 2021 with +8%, against +6% estimated by Prometeia).
They are convinced of this because the manufacturing chains of the Via Emilia continue to prove to be champions not only for exports (+3.2% in real terms in 2022, therefore separating out the inflationary effect, a trend confirmed again this year), which has already shot up today 11.6 points above the pre-pandemic data and by innovation rate (+10.7% gross fixed investments in 2022), but «because our member companies are the first in their class, nationally and beyond, for solidity and for growth in turnover, margins, employment and research and patenting capacity», says Valter Caiumi, president of Confindustria Emilia central area. And he doesn’t fear denials by presenting the second edition of the Supply Chain Observatory, created by the association that brings together the industries of Bologna, Modena and Ferrara in collaboration with Crif.
The dimensions of the supply chains
A territorial ecosystem which, within the national Confindustria, was the first to choose to reorganize itself into supply chains (20, of which 17 manufacturing) which, with their 3,400 companies for a turnover of 75 billion euros and over 181,000 workers, represent a wealth « still too little valued and known>, comments Caiumi. The evolution of performance in the three-year period 2019-2021 and the comparison with the average data of non-associated companies both in the region and, even more so, in Italy confirm the extraordinary nature of this entrepreneurial fabric.
An Italian chemical-pharmaceutical company has an average turnover of 8.8 million euros and 5 employees, the average competitor in the Bologna-Modena-Ferrara industrial triangle has an average turnover of more than five times more (48 million) with 63 employees. In packaging and industrial vehicles, the disproportion is even more accentuated (less than 6 million in average turnover in Italy and eight to ten times more in Confindustria Emilia) and these are just a couple of examples. The 2021 financial results confirm the tonnage and health of the system represented by the via san Domenico association, which after the 2020 crisis maintained a growth rate in turnover and EBITDA higher than the average of regional and national companies, driven from agrifood, automotive, pharma, facilities, home, packaging, bringing the supply chains well beyond 2019 levels in terms of revenues and profitability.
More internationalized Emilian industries
The Confindustria Emilia-Crif Observatory offers other ideas that bode well for the ability of Emilian manufacturing “to bring GDP in 2023 beyond the threshold of +1%, which is not trivial given the context – underlines the councilor for economic development and at Work Vincenzo Colla – and it can be explained by the continuous growth of investments, as also shown by the results of the latest tenders that we have promoted. With the push of the technopole and European funds we want to reach 3% of investments on GDP. We are a very attractive region for capitals, now we have to bring and keep skills here and it is precisely on the concrete measures of the new law on talent that we are discussing these days with all the stakeholders”.