Feltrin: “The USA is the first non-EU market: Europe has the opportunity to act as such on tariffs. Salone del Mobile is an opportunity to enhance secondary markets as well”.
The turnover of the wood-furniture supply chain closes 2024 at 51.7 billion euros, recording a -2.9%, which confirms what, several times, we have called a phase of normalization after the Covid period, in which the supply chain had recorded performance well above average, still confirming growth compared to 2019 values (+19.6%) in terms of turnover. The decline is more remarkable in the domestic market (-3.3%), which – with 32.3 billion euros – represents 62% of the total; exports fell less (-2.1%) to 19.4 billion, which constitutes 38% of the turnover of the supply chain, and over 52% for the furniture macrosystem alone.
That shows up from the final figures drawn up by the FederlegnoArredo Study Centre – a few days before the opening of the Salone del Mobile.Milano – shows 64,144 companies in the wood-furniture supply chain under 297,000 employees. With the reduction of tax incentives in Italy and the contraction of the leading European reference markets in 2024, the downsizing that had already begun in 2023 after a two-year period of growth continued. It is relevant to consider that most of Italy’s exports are intended for the European continent, particularely for the EU market (51%), which is worth almost 10 billion euros out of a total of 19.4 billion.
France, as first market, recorded a decrease of 3.3% involving, in particular, the furniture macrosystem, and Germany, with -6%, now the third market, does not seem to show recovery signs. Still, the hope is that the domestic economic policy plan can represent a booster for the country restart and, therefore, for furniture exports. The non-EU27 European market, the second largest of the total, is also down by 4%, mainly due to the negative performance of the United Kingdom and Russia.
“The historical series of exports in the supply chain,” explains Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, “shows that 2024 remains well above the levels reached in 2021, after reaching its highest peak in 2022 with 20.9 billion euros and that in 2023 the decline was 4.9% compared to 2022, compared to -2.1% in 2024. In this scenario, the positive trend of the United Arab Emirates recorded the best performance in the Top Ten ranking eighth, and Saudi Arabia shows remarkable results. In the United States – the first non-European reference market – 2024 recorded an improvement (+1.5%) after -10.6% in 2023. America as a whole, is worth 2.8 billion euros and grows by +1.9%: North America grows, both with the United States (+1.5%) and Canada (+6%). We are waiting for the production data for January 2025 to hopefully confirm a sentiment among entrepreneurs that seems to record a positive trend in the first month of the year that could coincide with a positive sign in exports and furniture production. That would undoubtedly be a comforting sign that, although it only relates to one month, could give us hope for 2025.
It is understood that after Trump announced the introduction of 20% tariffs on all European products, every scenario could be turned upside down by being, as Prime Minister Meloni also said, a wrong measure that does not suit anyone. However, we are waiting to know in detail US measures implement and also to understand what countermeasures Europe intends to execute: we hope to avoid the worst scenario, namely of a muscle match, in which both economies would be the ones to pay the price. But I want to try and see something positive in such a complex situation. Europe has the opportunity to act as such, with compactness and determination, as underlined by President Mattarella, in the productive world’s support. Industry Entrepreneurs, as usual, are ready to do their part, we are at the gates of the Salone del Mobile.Milano which will be even more strategic also to probe and open up to markets considered secondary until now and reaffirming the value of quality and innovation that only our design can boast. The flexibility and quick changes of course to which our small and medium-sized enterprises are accustomed will be the keys to dealing with such a complex situation”.
The furniture macrosystem – which closed in 2024 with a drop in production turnover of -2.3%, for a value of over 27.5 billion euros – brings together over 20,700 companies, while the number of employees is just under 139,600 units. The overall result, which is still higher than pre-pandemic levels, is determined by both sales on the domestic market (-2.9%) and, to a lesser extent, exports (-1.8%), which suffered a modest decline after the -4% recorded the previous year. The contraction in turnover is common to all systems (furniture, bathroom furnishings, lighting and office), albeit with different intensities: from -5.5% of the office system to the stationarity of the bathroom furniture system (-0.5%). The trend in educational furniture is positive.
In 2024, exports of the furniture macrosystem are worth just under 14.4 billion euros, a modest decrease (-1.8%) compared to 2023. The decrease was affected by lower exports to France (the first market with over 2.3 billion euros, -3.6% in 2023) and China (which fell from seventh position in 2023 to eighth in 2024, with sales of 393 million and a decrease of 17.9%). Among the top ten destinations, there was also a significant decrease in Germany (-3.2%, determined in particular by the performance in the first half of the year) and the United Kingdom (-3.7%); the Netherlands also fell (-5%). Among the top five markets, a negative sign but of a smaller magnitude for the United States (second, -0.8%, with a slowdown at the end of the year) and Switzerland (-1.4%).
On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates (recording a positive trend for the fourth consecutive year and gaining seventh position from ninth in 2023 with a variation of +22.2%) and Spain (sixth, +4.1%) contributed to reduce the negative trend. Further to the top ten destinations, there were significant increases in absolute value in Poland (+9.7%) and Saudi Arabia (+14.6%).
The turnover from the lighting system production in 2024 reaches 2.3 billion euros, recording a contraction of -2%, determined both by lower exports that record -1.3% – worth just under 1.9 billion euros and constitute 80% of the total value – and by the decline in sales on the domestic market (-4.6% for a value of just under half a billion euros). Over 1,200 companies operate in the Lighting System, while the number of employees is just under 10,500.
