The industry in Piedmont does better than the Italian average thanks to the drive from the car

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Piedmont manufacturing closes 2022 better than expected and, above all, does better than the Italian average thanks to the contribution of the automotive sector. This is the picture that emerges from the economic analysis carried out by the Study Office of Unioncamere Piemonte, presented with Unicredit and Intesa San Paolo, the two main credit institutions in the area. The manufacturing production index grew by 2.7% in the last quarter of 2022, bringing the full year result to +3.4% after growth of more than 10% in 2021.

From the analysis of the replies of a qualified sample of over 1,500 companies, it emerges that, after a slight slowdown in the third quarter of last year, production in the last three months of the year started to rise again thanks to the contribution of the most significant sector for Piedmont, that of transport.

After the positive change of 5.2% recorded in the period January-March 2022, the average quarterly increase stood at +3.8% in the second quarter followed by a slowdown in growth (+1.7% in the third quarter) and by a recovery in the pace in the last three months of the year. Data that fits into a global context that seems to confirm that the risk of recession is averted, even in Europe, a region affected by the uncertainties of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and by inflationary dynamics.

The best performance was that of the means of transport chain (+8%), the result of the growth in car production (+14.1%), alongside the good performance of components (+7.7%), to offset the contraction in the aerospace sector (-1.4%). The production of electronics companies is growing (+5.9%), followed by the wood and furniture sector (+5.3%). The textile and clothing supply chain also did well (+4.1%) while the mechanical sector grew but remained below the average (+2.4%).

In the last quarter of the year then, thanks to the good performance of the automotive sector, Turin grew more than the other provinces (+4.6% on the same period of 2021) and archived a 2022 in any case growing by 3.7% compared to 2021 Overall, Piedmont fared better than Veneto but was less brilliant than Lombardy.