(Finance) – The 2023 turnover of the wood-furniture supply chain stands at 52.6 billion euros with an overall decrease of 8.1% on 2022. Result developed mainly by the domestic market at 32.7 billion euros (62% of the total) which records a negative trend (-10.1%) but which also affects exports (-4.5%) with a turnover that comes close to 20 billion euros (38% of the total). This is attested by the preliminary financial statements drawn up by FederlegnoArredo Study Center on Istat data and presented during the press conference on Salone del Mobile Milan 2024.
“Compared to 2019 – the year preceding the two-year period 2020-2022 in which living and housing were overwhelmingly at the center of family spending – this year’s turnover records a superior performance, with around 10 billion gap (there were 43 in 2019). An apparently positive result – he explains Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo – but which hides the inflationary burden recorded as early as the end of 2022. It is sufficient to look at the Istat data on industrial production to interpret the data: in the first eleven months of 2023, industrial production of furniture recorded -5.3% and that of wood -14.8%. Less is produced – concludes Feltrin – i However, turnover in 2022 remains higher than in 2019 due to the increase in prices (mobile +6.5%) and company margins are reduced. However, it is worth highlighting that one of the factors that has caused the decline in the supply chain as a whole is also the physiological decline in internal demand, after two years of exceptional growth, due especially as the boost that the various construction bonuses have given to the sector disappears and the progressive downsizing of which will continue to have a negative impact on the results of our supply chain”.
After having come close to 29 billion euros in 2022, the turnover of the furniture macrosystem in 2023 is downsized slightly, reaching 28 billion euros with a total decline of 3.4% and a very limited difference between the internal market (13, 2 billion euros) with -3.2% and exports (around 15 billion euros) at -3.6%, but whose share of total turnover remains stable at 53%. As regards the wood macrosystem, there was an even more marked drop in turnover (-11.6%) which thus reached 21.4 billion euros, while exports fell by 7.3% reaching 5.1 billion in value, the domestic market is close to 16.3 billion and is down by as much as 12.8%. Added to this is the wood trade which in 2023 will reach a turnover of 3.2 billion euros with a percentage change of -20%.
In a supply chain particularly suited to exports such as that of wood-furniture, the ongoing wars, the evolving geopolitical balances and the recent crisis of the Suez Canal, (the export value of the wood-furniture supply chain on the Red Sea route amounts to approximately 2.5 billion while imports amount to approximately 1.9 billion) have a profound impact on multiple fronts. From the tripled costs of containers, which fall downstream on the cost of finished products, to the energy which began to increase again in the first months of ’24, the price of wood, however, after reaching a peak in October 2022, began to fall, even if very slowly. The latest available data in fact highlights that in the period January-November ’23 the increase in wood is still 1.2% compared to the same period of ’22. The Infodata, created by the FederlegnoArredo Study Center on Istat data, highlights that for exports France is still in the lead (2.7 billion euros) at +0.6%, followed by Germany, (1.8 billion euro) grappling with a serious internal crisis; at -6.4%.
The United States (1.7 billion euros) drops to third place after two years of above-average growth in which it overtook Germany, with a heavy -13.2%. China, still firmly in seventh place (458 million), recorded -19.1%, the worst performance among the top 10 destinations in the supply chain. To find a positive sign after the top ten you have to go down to the 12th position of the United Arab Emirates (307 million euros) at +3.3%; followed by Russia (246 million) at -7.4% and Canada, 15th (221 million) at -14.5%, while Saudi Arabia (185 million) is at -1.9%.
“A complex puzzle in which markets enter and markets exit in short periods of time that we were not used to until just a few years ago. Our supply chain, made up mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises, as we have always said, has the flexibility precisely in these factors and the speed to adapt to changes.But this does not mean that it is easy, that it does not require effort, investment and vision.
As a Federation – comments the President Feltrin – we are always working for identify support tools for entrepreneurs in such complex phasesacting as spokespersons for their requests towards national and European institutions, to achieve common objectives that serve the interests of our business fabric and the country at the same time.
I am thinking of internationalisation, of support for the digital and green transition which cannot, however, coincide with the ‘everything now’ approach, but I am also thinking of the unfair competition of those who produce outside European borders by not respecting the regulations on sustainability and respect for human rights. I am thinking of the valorisation and management of our forestry heritage to make us increasingly a zero km supply chain, a theme on which we have worked from the beginning with the competent ministries and we are now putting the proposals for the implementing decrees on the ground. Now there are two months left until the Salone del Mobile, the showcase par excellence of Made in Italy and, once again, it will be our design that dictates the trends of the sector, unique in its ability to combine style, research into materials, technology and sustainability. Strengthened by our quality, the Show will also help companies to identify new markets and new target audiences, starting with the younger generations who will impose a change in perspective and approach to business models”.
Furniture
Thanks to the important role played by the house in recent years and the push of the numerous tax incentives in place, the two-year period 2021-2022 was decidedly extraordinary for the sector and the decline in 2023 (-3.4% total, -3.2% Italy; -3.6% export) is therefore placed in a context of return to normality also due to the contraction of the residential market, with turnover at 28 billion. Among the almost 220 export markets for Made in Italy furniture – according to the Infodata of the FederlegnoArredo Study Center based on Istat data – those whose contraction in sales has a decisive impact in the first 10 months of the year are the United States (1.3 billion) in second position with -11.4%, behind France (2 billion euros) with +1.1% and ahead of Germany (1.1 billion) at -5%. Of note are the results of China in seventh place (382 million) at -19.8% and that of Canada in 15th place (180 million) at -16.7%. The United Arab Emirates in tenth place (260 million) recorded a + 4.8%. Russia, 12th with 215 million, closes at -6.5%. Arabia (160 million) and Greece (153 million) – in 16th and 17th place – differ with a positive sign of 2.5 and 9.6% respectively.
Kitchens
After reaching almost three billion euros in 2022, thanks to an excellent performance in both production for the national market (2 billion) and exports (1 billion), in 2023 kitchens, in contrast to the other furniture sectors, they remain substantially at the same levels. Production turnover (3 billion) in fact recorded a limited contraction, equal to -2%, determined by the decline in production for Italy (-3%). Exports were stable: in the January-October period, the first two markets, France (165 million euros) and the United States (119 million euros), recorded +0.1% and +5.8% respectively. Third market is Switzerland (59 million euros) which recorded -1.5%. “Based on what was declared by a representative sample of companies, the sector hopes for a recovery on foreign markets especially in the second part of 2024, also in anticipation of Eurocucina” he adds Edi Snaidero, advisor in charge of the FederlegnoArredo Kitchen Group. “The expectation is for a confirmation edition, in which much of the research carried out in the sector in recent years will be presented, with greater integration with the world of household appliances, especially in terms of optimisation, personalization of spaces and sustainability”.
Bathroom furniture
Thanks to the strong dynamism of the residential sector, 2022 was also a year of growth for bathroom furnishings (+9.1% on 2021). In 2023 the sector will decline by -2.2% while remaining at levels still well above pre-Covid, with a turnover of 4.3 billion euros. Exports decline (-5%), which with a value of 1.7 billion represents 40% of the total turnover, while sales on the domestic market remain stable, worth 2.6 billion. “As regards the forecasts for 2024, expectations are for a recovery also dictated by the approach of the next International Bathroom Show in April, as part of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, the meeting place par excellence of the international design community , and a moment in which companies will have the opportunity to understand potential markets and glimpse new growth prospects” he explains Elia Vismara, president of Assobagno of FederlegnoArredo. “Today the bathroom is a totally integrated concept: the market asks us for functionality, sustainability, flexibility and very strong customer service, and Italian bathroom furniture presents itself at its most important event promising an experience characterized by quality”.