Raw materials emergency, Italian agro-mechanical companies at risk

The Italian producers of tractors and agricultural implements are at risk of losing competitiveness on international markets. According to the Italian association of agricultural machinery manufacturers, FederUnacoma, which recently raised the alarm on the rise in commodity prices, Italian companies have begun to update their price lists in order to absorb the sharp increases of their production costs. In the first half of the year - explains Alessandro Malavolti, President of FederUnacoma - the companies were able to face this situation without particular increases on the final price of products, partly by drawing on the supplies previously stored and in part by reducing their profits; but the persistence of the emergency leaves no room for margins and forces many companies to update their price lists ”. For the tractor segment, the manufacturers' association estimates increases in the order of 15% compared to last year, while for equipment and components they are slightly lower (+ 10% for the former, + 10/12% for the latter). According to FederUnacoma, the price dynamics of the agro-mechanical sector could be a distorting effect, penalizing Italian companies compared to China, India and Turkey. Without a systemic management of the crisis that makes it possible to cope with the price rush, the Italian industry risks therefore losing competitiveness on international markets and not being able to withstand the challenge with its fiercest competitors.