In first place in the ranking of the sectors of activity of Piedmontese companies are the agri-food chain (occupying 18.7% of companies) and the construction sector (16.4%), but the production of wealth continues to come primarily from the automotive sector, trucks and motorcycles, which employs only 12.5% of workers but produces 27.6% of the wealth (added value) of Piedmont. That’s more than a quarter of the wealth.
To measure the actual weight of the different production chains, the 2022 Permanent Business Census is very useful, with which Istat for the first time photographed the positioning of companies in the different production sectors: 72,643 companies were involved, employing 1,025. 000 people and produce an added value of 58 billion euros.
The Istat questionnaire asked companies with at least 3 employees to indicate, within a predefined set of 28 supply chains, one or more supply chains to which they contribute through:
- a) production, packaging and processing of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products;
- b) production of machinery and equipment for specific use in the supply chain;
- c) carrying out service activities such as distribution, consultancy, marketing, digital services, cleaning, maintenance, sales.
The Tables reporting the results of the multipurpose survey are divided by region (19 regions and 2 autonomous provinces), by territorial distribution (North West, North East, Center and South) and according to the macro-sector of economic activity of the companies in the sample (industry strictly speaking, construction, trade and other services). Thanks to the Istat survey, we have the necessary information to define the relevance and specificities of the production chains in Piedmont, broken down according to the number of companies that have joined them, the number of people employed and their contribution to the production of added value.
The supply chains of Piedmont. The production chains to which Piedmontese companies contribute most frequently are:
1) the agri-food chain with 13,568 companies (18.7% of respondents) and 192 thousand employees.
2) the construction chain with 11,912 companies (16.4%) and 117 thousand employees.
3) the road transport sector (which produces cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc.) with 9,085 companies (12.5%) and 192 thousand employees.
4) the tourism and leisure sector with 8,260 companies (11.3%) and 64 thousand employees.
5) the industrial electrical equipment and generic machinery supply chain with 4,776 companies (6.7%) and 75,300 employees
6) the healthcare and social assistance chain with 4,776 companies (6.6%) and 76 thousand employees.
7) the pharmaceutical supply chain with 4,325 companies (5.9%) and 83 thousand employees.
8) the home and office furniture supply chain with 4,254 companies (5.2%) and 43 thousand employees
9) the non-electrical tools and small parts supply chain for domestic, industrial and professional use with 3,757 companies (5.2%) and 37 thousand employees.
10) the clothing, footwear and clothing accessories supply chain, including for sports use, with 3,676 companies (5.1%) and 60 thousand employees.
This is followed by the supply chains of electrical and electronic appliances for domestic use, publishing, road transport infrastructures and services, education and training, telecommunications infrastructures and services.
The production of wealth. If we take into consideration the added value produced by the supply chains, the picture is partially different. The road transport sector jumps to first place with a share of added value produced equal to 27.6%. Furthermore, some supply chains characterized by a higher average company size are included in the top 10 in the ranking: the energy supply chain (fourth place), the supply chain of electrical or electronic equipment for domestic use (sixth place), the infrastructure supply chain and telecommunications services (seventh place) and the aerospace and defense sector (tenth place).
The motor supply chain. The Piedmont road transport supply chain is the most important in Italy in terms of share of companies and share of added value produced. Scrolling through the data referring to the regions that host companies that are part of the supply chain and that produce cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, furniture for means of transport, machines and equipment dedicated to the supply chain, we discover that:
1) with a share of collaborative businesses equal to 12.5% of the total, the Piedmontese supply chain is in first place followed by the supply chains of Puglia (11.2%), Emilia Romagna (10.3%), Lombardy (10. 1%) and Campania (9.8%).
2) with a share of added value produced on the total equal to 27.6%, the Piedmontese supply chain is by far the most important followed by the supply chains of Emilia Romagna (17.9%), Abruzzo (16.6% ), Lombardy (15%) and Puglia (13.1%).
Piedmont can also boast leadership for the aerospace and defense supply chain, while it ranks around tenth and eleventh position with regards to the other two structured and growing supply chains: the agri-food supply chain and the tourism and leisure supply chain.
