XXIII.—THE INDUSTRY IN ITALY.

Production. 109. In 1929, Italy held the seventh place in the rubber manufacturing
 industry judged by the absorption of crude rubber. In
that year, Italian manufacturers absorbed 16,200 tons, or 2.02 per
cent. of the world supply. There are no statistics of Italian production
 of rubber manufactured goods. All classes of rubber goods
are, however, manufactured in Italy, and the greater part of the
local demand is supplied by the Italian industry. Imports of
crude rubber have increased steadily since 1922 except during one
year—1926.

Vear.

1922
1923
1924
1925
£926
1927
199K

Imports of
crude rubber,
(tons.)
6,548
8,729
9,017
11,966
10,472
11,433
19 B48

These figures include the crude rubber put into stock, and are
therefore slightly higher than the figures already given which are
the absorption of rubber by the manufacturers.
[talian 110. The principal rubber manufacturers in Italy are :—
facturers. Pirelli.
S.P.I.G.A. (Society Piemontese Industria Gomma Affini).
Michelin.
Martiny.
Hutchinson.
Bergougnan and Tedeschi.

These six firms employ about 16,000 persons and their aggregate
capital is probably in the neighbourhood of 400,000.000 lire
‘£4 300.000).

The capital of the Societda Pirelli—the largest Italian firm—is
120,000,000 lire (£1,290,000) ‘and their annual output is said to be
about 200,000,000 lire (£2,150,000). They employ some 10,000
people, and have three factories—two in Milan and one at La
Spezia. They also have branches in various towns throughout
[taly.
The head office of the Societd Prodotti Michelin is in Milan and
they have factories in Turin and in Trento. The latter factory
is used exclusively for the manufacture of cotton for tyres.
They have branches at Rome, Turin, Bologna, Padova, Naples,
Florence, Catania and Bari. Their output is about 5,000 cycle