The Italian plastics machinery association Amaplast (AMP, Milan; www.amaplast.org), formerly Assocomaplast, has elected Alessandro Grassi (Frigosystem) again as president until 2019. At its annual general assembly on 7 June, the association’s members also elected Andrea Franceschetti (Gefran), Massimo Margaglione (Gefit) and Corrado Zanga (Uniloy Milacron) as vice presidents. The assembly met in an extraordinary session to approve the new articles following the decision to change the name of the association to Amaplast (see Plasteurope.com of 15.06.2017).

A public session followed the assembly, including a talk by Marco Fortis, vice president at Fondazione Edison, who illustrated that indicators for Italy continue to be less impressive than in other areas, but recovery is more positive than initially estimated – the upward trend in added value from manufacturing in the two years 2015 - 2016 was higher in Italy (3.5%) than in either Germany (3.0%) or France (2.6%).

A recent survey conducted by Assocomaplast among its members in late May, comparing the first half of 2017 to the same period in 2016, reveals a positive mood for the trend in revenues (improving for 39% of the interviewees and stable for 49%) and in orders (growing for 42% and stable for 52%). Plastics and rubber machinery, equipment and moulds for the Italian market exceeded EUR 4.2 bn in 2016, up 1.9% from 2015 (see Plasteurope.com of 23.03.2017).