MILAN — November 11, 2025 — The Italian textile machinery orders index registered a notable slowdown in the third quarter of 2025, with total demand falling 16% year over year, according to new figures from ACIMIT’s Economics Department (Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers). The index now stands at 41.8 points (base year 2021 = 100).
Both domestic and international markets contributed to the decline. In Italy, orders for textile machinery dropped 17%, bringing the domestic index to 49.9 points, while foreign orders were down 16%, settling at 40.7 points. Despite weaker demand, production pipelines showed slight improvement, with the order backlog ensuring four months of output, compared to 3.9 months in the previous quarter.
Marco Salvadè, president of ACIMIT, acknowledged that the overall business sentiment remains subdued:
“The ACIMIT survey outlines a business climate where overall demand remains weak. In Italy the decline in order intake reflects the difficult period the textile supply chain is currently experiencing.”
However, Salvadè pointed to areas of resilience and growth within export markets:
“On foreign markets, however, we can see some signs of recovery. Although total order intake is still down compared to the first nine months of 2024, Italian textile machinery exports — based on official data for the first half of the year — show growth in some key markets such as India, Pakistan, and Egypt.”
The recent ITMA ASIA + CITME 2025 exhibition in Singapore has also helped lift industry confidence. Salvadè expressed optimism about its impact on future Italian textile machinery orders, noting:
“I believe the 100 Italian exhibitors can be satisfied both with the number and quality of visitors and with the business prospects generated by the many contacts made during the exhibition. I hope that the work carried out at the trade fair will translate into a stronger order intake within a geopolitical context marked by reduced uncertainty.”