Positive results also in 2017 for the Italian furnishing industry: according to the preliminary results produced by the Centro Studi Federlegno Arredo Eventi, in fact, the production recorded a growth of 1.5%, with 26.8 billion euro, going on the recovery started in the 2015 and consolidated in 2016.

These results confirm the solidity of the Italian manufacturing wood furniture system, which closed 2017 with a total turnover of € 41.3 billion, up by 1.4% over the previous year.

This is due to the increase in domestic consumption and to a greater consumers spending capacity, which has also been applied to durable goods such as furniture (17 billion euros, equal to a significant + 2%). Equally important was the push that came from tax initiatives such as the mobile bonus and restructuring bonuses, which were renewed for 2018. From the analysis of the real estate market, it was also noted that residential purchases and sales increased along with facilitated renovations.

The trend in exports was also positive, with an increase of 1.7% with a value of € 14.1 billion. Analysing the first ten months of 2017, France is among the countries in which exports are the strongest (1.8 billion euros, + 5.4%) followed by Germany (1.3 billion euros, 0.8%), the United Kingdom (1 billion euros, -1.9%) and the United States (975 million euros, + 5.4%). The strong growth of the Chinese market was confirmed, reaching 408 million euros, an increase of 38.5%.

Analysing the different sectors, the kitchen production recorded a slightly negative result last year (2.16 billion euros, -2%), offset by exports which, however, with a value of 762 million euros, still 1% growth.

On the other hand, both production (2.67 billion euros, + 0.8%) and exports in the bathroom furniture sector increased by 1% and amounted to 1.27 billion euros.