COMET, FVG metalworking report – 1st half of 2025: “Duties are not scary: let’s diversify markets”

In an increasingly unstable global economic context, the metalworking system of Friuli Venezia Giulia is showing signs of reactivity and transformation . This is what is photographed in the report “New routes for the metalworking industry of FVG: duties, risks and competitive adaptation”, relating to the data of the sector in the first half of 2025, online from this week, created by COMET – Cluster della Metalmeccanica FVG, in collaboration with Area Science Park, Intesa Sanpaolo, University of Trieste, University of Udine.
FVG metalworking in numbers
Despite a slight contraction in regional manufacturing (-0.3%), metalworking shows a reversal of the trend with a growth of 0.9%, confirming its stable weight in the regional industrial sector (46% of the total). The instant poll carried out on a sample of companies belonging to the Cluster also shows a growing capacity of the regional entrepreneurial fabric to react proactively to possible scenarios of global instability, in particular in relation to the increase in US duties. 62% have already adopted or are evaluating new measures to address geopolitical changes and new US duties, focusing on diversification of outlet markets (77%) and on opening local offices. The comparison with the national panorama is interesting: no company in FVG declares that it intends to reduce its international business, unlike the national sample.
Export
Good export performance: in the first quarter of 2025, the FVG metalworking industry grew by +6%, in sharp contrast to the national figure (-2.7%). The analysis highlights that, between 2008 and 2024, exports from Friuli Venezia Giulia grew significantly towards countries not traditionally linked to this sector in the region. These are non-European countries that are rapidly intensifying trade exchanges such as the United States, Canada, Qatar, Chile, Mexico, Japan. “The FVG metalworking industry companies are demonstrating a growing ability to reformulate their strategies , enhancing the reorganization of global supply chains and seizing the opportunities linked to reshoring – says Saverio Maisto, director of COMET -. The context remains complex, however: the small size of many companies represents an element of fragility that should not be underestimated. In this context, the ability to rethink markets, relationships and strategies is confirmed as crucial”. Diversification (commercial destinations , supply sources, business models) according to Maisto "is no longer a residual option, but a necessary path". The COMET report intends to offer an updated reading of these developments, "without giving in to easy optimism, but recognizing that, alongside the critical issues, elements emerge on which to build new trajectories of competitiveness".
CONCLUSIONS
“The data confirm that regional metalworking companies are responding with determination to the complexity of the global scenario ,” says COMET President Sergio Barel. “COMET will continue to support those who aim to expand their presence in alternative markets by investing in innovation and structured commercial relationships, strengthening diversification strategies. Continuity, vision and courage are needed .”
İl Friuli