Budget planning, assessing future business developments – this has never been more difficult than in recent years with special effects ranging from coronavirus to interrupted supply chains. More than ever, it is essential to have data and figures at your disposal in order to accurately assess the actual development of a market.

Traditionally, the statistics office of Acimall, the Italian association for woodworking technologies, has prepared a series of information that highlights the global trends in Italian technologies for the furniture and woodworking industry in the first three months of this year. This is based on data from Istat, the Italian statistical office.

Exports amounted to EUR 379.4 million in the reporting period, 6.1% less than in the same quarter of 2023. Although one quarter is too short to identify a significant trend, a visual analysis (chart 1) shows a 30% decline in sales to Europe outside the EU in the most important target regions. This is mainly due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. A similar trend can be seen in exports to the Middle East, which fell by a dramatic 55.1 percent.

There is stability within the European Union (Italy’s largest sales market with a 52.8% share of the total export volume) and an expansive trend in Italian technology purchases from North America (increase of 4%). One of the reasons for the increased interest is the political efforts in the USA to bring productions that have migrated to neighboring countries back into the country. Other attractive markets, albeit to a lesser extent, can be found in South America (up 28%), Oceania (up 18%) and Africa (up 9.3%).

The 16.4 percent decline in exports to Asia is remarkable, which is certainly due to the increasing spread of “Made in China” technology for wood and furniture, which is also becoming more and more attractive for China’s neighboring markets.

When focusing on individual countries (chart 2), the United States and France are making a comeback. Both sales markets are highly attractive for the Italians and have recovered noticeably compared to 2023 as a whole. In the last financial year, there was a decline of 16% to the USA and 4.6% to France. Sweden delivered excellent results (up 137% compared to the same quarter in 2023), driven by spare parts sales and investments in existing technology. The UK continues to see a slump in Italian machinery imports (down 36.6%), following a similar decline in 2023.

Despite rising domestic production, China continues to show interest in Italian technology: sales rose by 12.9% in the first quarter of 2024, continuing the growth trend from 2023. Last year, there were purchases from China that resulted in growth of ten percent. India continues to lose places in the international export ranking with a drop of 30.5 percent, but despite this development it remains in the focus of the Italians as a market that raises expectations.

If we look at the import of foreign technology into the Italian market in the first quarter of 2024 (chart 3), we see further evidence of stagnation. Imports from Germany fell by 35.6 percent, from China by 20.5 percent and from Switzerland by 12.3 percent; Austria recorded an increase in sales to Italy of 8.7 percent.

In general, imports amounted to EUR 39.4 million in the period from January to March 2024, a decrease of 23.9% compared to the same period in 2023.

Broken down according to the results of individual regions (chart 4), the European Union remains the most important supplier country with EUR 23.3 million in the period under review – despite a decline of 24.6% compared to the same period in 2023. And a 59.2 percent share of total Italian imports.

“One fact we should probably focus on is the marginal role that Africa plays for Italian manufacturers,” says Dario Corbetta, Director of Acimall. “Despite the geographical proximity and our government’s commitment to developing more profitable relationships, the market penetration of our industry in Africa is still limited. Especially when you consider that China is expected to have sold around 100 million euros worth of wood processing technology there by 2023.

North America, on the other hand, continues to be an important partner for our companies, and the same applies to Europe. Even if we should perhaps see the latter as an expansion of the domestic market rather than an export target.”