Plastics demand declines by 9% year-on-year / Converters plagued by structural problems / Consumption down to 1997 levels / Plastics packaging production falls to 3.3m t / Exports of plastic waste have almost dried up

摘要

The unfortunate course taken by the parliamentary elections in Italy will not help improve the country's poor prospects in the medium to long term. The latest economic indicators had suggested that the recession that has lasted since 2011 would come to an end in early 2013. Yet both domestic demand and exports have continued to stagnate and, in the view of the Italian Employers' Federation, Confindustria (Rome, www. confindustria.it), there are still no real signs of an upturn. In the federation's opinion, it will take at least until the end of this year and probably until the end of 2014 before the problems in Europe ease and the situation in Italy improves. Confindustria is not alone with this appraisal: The International Monetary Fund (www.imf.org), for example, expects the Italian economy to shrink by 1 % in 2013 - a small improvement compared with last year's decline of 2.1 %.