cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10394465
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Brussels has been examining ways to shield European industry from what many manufacturers say is the negative fallout from China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidised exports.
Stefania Pigozzi, head of economic studies at Italian machine tool industry association UCIMU, said Chinese manufacturers had largely satisfied domestic demand and are now rapidly expanding overseas.
UCIMU said it wants imported machinery to be subject to the same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers in order to level the playing field.
“Europe needs common rules that apply to everyone,” Pigozzi told Reuters. “Machinery safety standards, for example, have a direct impact on production costs and ultimately on the final price of a product.”
For most Italian companies, meanwhile, moving production to China to compete against Chinese manufacturers on equal terms is not an option, she added.
UCIMU represents about 250 producers of machine tools, robots, automation systems and components with combined revenue of roughly €8 billion ($9.1 billion) and employing some 30,000 workers.
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According to data compiled by UCIMU from national industry associations and Italy’s trade agency ICE, China’s share of global metalworking machine tool exports rose to 23% in 2025 from 8% in 2016, while Europe’s fell to 46% from 52% during the same period.
Italy, the world’s fourth-largest machine tool exporter, also lost ground over the period. Its share of global exports slipped to 7.8% in 2025 from 8.4% in 2016, while Italian exports to China plunged to €110 million from €316 million.
The concerns of Italian manufacturers echo a broader debate within the EU.
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Earlier this year Italy joined France, Spain and two other countries in calling on Brussels to strengthen trade defence tools to protect European industry from unfair competition.
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Brussels has been examining ways to shield European industry from what many manufacturers say is the negative fallout from China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidised exports.
So happy to see the German government finally embracing the way, the truth, and the light of Juche Thought
Italy, the world’s fourth-largest machine tool exporter, also lost ground over the period. Its share of global exports slipped to 7.8% in 2025 from 8.4% in 2016, while Italian exports to China plunged to €110 million from €316 million.
One of the jokes about the Italian economy is that it does a phenomenal job of raising, educating, and training young people. But it does a dogshit job of actually paying them. Consequently, a significant number of professionally trained Italian engineers, IT specialists, and other highly educated workers find themselves moving to China in order to pursue the careers they trained for at the Universities of Bolonga and Milian. Shanghai, in particular, has an enormous European expat community.
So there’s a very good chance the machine tools Italians have lost the edge in the market producing are coming from the very same tool makers that they used to employ.
One of the jokes about the Italian economy is that it does a phenomenal job of raising, educating, and training young people. But it does a dogshit job of actually paying them.
This is a surprisingly common phenomenon actually. Italy is definitely out of place here being a high-income country, but middle income countries (think Middle East) tend to export significant numbers of educated people because of the mismatch between education capacity and economic prosperity.
Italian economy is that it does a phenomenal job of raising, educating, and training young people. But it does a dogshit job of actually paying them. Consequently, a significant number of professionally trained Italian engineers, IT specialists, and other highly educated workers find themselves moving to China.
The annual average wage (purchasing power parity) according to the OECD is EUR 58,000 in Italy compared to EUR 34,000 in China. (And these are the official numbers, as China is much likely cooking the books even multiple times; first, this is done by regional governments in China as they want to meet their goals given by the central government, and then the central government in Beijing is likely cooking again.)
Shanghai, in particular, has an enormous European expat community.
According to the latest Chinese census, China has some 1.4 million immigrants. That’s 0.1% of the entire population, and this number includes residents of Macao and Hong Kong.
There is absolutely no meaningfully large expat community in Shanghai nor in any other city or region in China, neither European nor any nationality. Expats in China are an almost invisibly small community, they barely exist.
As it is detailed in the research report, Goodbye China: What Do Fewer Foreigners Mean for Multinationals and the Chinese Economy?,
The number of foreigners living in China is very low in international comparison and has further declined recently … the total number of immigrants amounted to just 0.1% of China’s population of more than 1.41 billion people. This is an exceptionally low share not only compared to Western countries such as the United States (15.4%), Germany (15.7%) or France (12.8%) but also compared to China’s East Asian neighbours Japan (2.0%) or South Korea (2.3%), or even compared to the similarly populous – but economically less developed – India (0.4%).
[Edit typo.]
China is much likely cooking the books
I see this line repeated ad nauseum, with vanishingly little to back it up.
As it is detailed in the research report
That’s a dead link for me.
the total number of immigrants amounted to just 0.1% of China’s population of more than 1.41 billion people.
If every single Italian in the country moved to China tomorrow, they could bump that number up to 0.15%
The link perfectly works.
🤷
The annual average wage (purchasing power parity) according to the OECD is EUR 58,000 in Italy compared to EUR 34,000 in China.
But immigrants with a Western university education aren’t getting paid average wages; China is quite famously spending a premium for foreign talent at the moment.
They don’t exist. The number of expats in China is next to zero, according to China’s own census.
