The Acimall Studies Office has processed, based on Istat, the data collected globally in the first three months of this year for Italian technologies dedicated to the furniture industry and the processing of wood and its derivatives. 

Having these data, as well as those processed by FederlegnoArredo, is increasingly important for entrepreneurs to be able to accurately assess the real trend of a market that is certainly going through a period of uncertainty and great changes.

Exports - destination areas

In the first three months of the year, exports amounted to 379.4 million euros, 6.1 percent less than in the same quarter of 2023. Looking at the main destination areas, we note the 30 percent drop in sales to non-EU Europe in light of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The same can be said due to the war in Gaza, which led to the contraction of exports to the Middle East, down 55.1 percent.

The European Union is confirmed as the most important partner, accounting for 52.8 percent of our total exports, to which is added the important expansionary phase of Italian technology purchases in North America (plus 4 percent), thanks mainly to the policy of the United States to bring back within its borders productions that had been “delegated” to neighboring countries. 

Interesting commercial outlets, although attested to decidedly contained values, can be considered South America (plus 28 percent), Oceania (plus 18 percent), and Africa (plus 9.3 percent). On the other hand, the 16.4 percent drop in exports to Asia should be highlighted, a contraction that is certainly due to the growing weight of “made in China” wood and furniture technology production, which is seeing its attractiveness grow in the nearest markets. 

“The figure that perhaps should make us reflect more than others is the marginality of Africa for Italian manufacturers,” commented Acimall director Dario Corbetta. “Despite the geographic proximity and the commitment of our government to define more profitable relations, for our sector the penetration in Africa of “made in Italy” is still very limited, especially if we consider that China - on the other hand - in 2023 would have sold there wood technologies worth around 100 million. North America continues to be a major partner for our companies, a discourse that can easily be extended to Europe, although we have to question whether we should not by now be talking about an extension of the domestic market, rather than exports.”

Exports - individual countries

Analyzing the data for individual countries, the return of the United States and France, the best customers of the quarter, is noteworthy, with a definite recovery compared to Italian technology purchases for the whole of 2023, down 16 percent in the U.S. and 4.6 percent in France.

Purchases from Sweden were very good (more 137 percent compared to the same quarter 2023), while the UK confirmed the collapse of Italian machinery imports (minus 36.6 percent), which follows the similar contraction already recorded for the whole of 2023. 

China, despite the growth in domestic production, nevertheless confirms its interest in Italian technologies: in fact, it marks plus 12.9 percent in the January-March 2024 period, which reiterates the plus 10 percent put in place in the twelve months of 2023. India loses further ground in the ranking of customer countries (minus 30.5 percent), although it remains in the list of markets from which good satisfaction is expected.

Imports: down 23.9 percent

As for imports of foreign technologies to our market in the first quarter of 2024, the stop that has characterized Italy is confirmed, although we are talking about small absolute figures.

Overall, imports in January-March 2024 amounted to 39.4 million euros, just over 10 percent of exports, and down 23.9 percent compared to the same period in 2023. 

Purchases from Germany decreased by 35.6 percent, imports from China by 20.5 percent, and imports from Switzerland by 12.3 percent; in contrast, Austria saw its sales to our country grow by 8.7 percent. 

Looking at the data on geographic areas, it can be seen that the European Union remains in the lead with 23.3 million euros in the period: despite a 24.6 percent decrease over the same period in 2023, it accounts for as much as 59.2 percent of total Italian imports.

Pictured here is a production plant of Giardina Group.