Summary of the Economic Survey - 36th edition of Milano Unica
ACCORDING TO THE PROJECTIONS OF THE CONFINDUSTRIA MODA RESEARCH CENTER, IN 2022 ITALIAN TEXTILES POSTED RECORD VALUES. IN FACT, ITALIAN TEXTILES OVERPERFORMED IN TERMS OF BOTH SALES AND EXPORTS THE RESULTS OF THE 4 YEARS PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC PERIOD. IN 2022, SALES TOTALED APPROXIMATELY EURO 8.1 BILLION (+32.4% ON A Y-O-Y BASIS), WHILE EXPORTS ROSE TO NEARLY EURO 4.6 BILLION (+31.9%). THE TRADE BALANCE OF THE INDUSTRY CLIMBED TO EURO 2,190 MILLION WITH AN INCREASE OF NEARLY EURO 400 MILLION OVER 2021. IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS, CHINA-HONG KONG, WITH A TOTAL OF APPROXIMATELY EURO 264 MILLION, CONFIRMED ITS STATUS AS THE FIRST EXPORT MARKET, AHEAD OF FRANCE AND FOLLOWED IN ORDER BY GERMANY, ROMANIA, TUNISIA, SPAIN, TURKEY AND THE USA. IMPORTS ALSO ROSE SIGNIFICANTLY (+44.7% OVER THE COMPARATIVE JANUARY-SEPTEMBER 2021 PERIOD) 60% CONCENTRATED IN 3 COUNTRIES: CHINA (29.7%), TURKEY (19.8%) AND PAKISTAN (8.6%).
According to the preliminary projections of the Confindustria Moda Research Center, the 2022 balance of Made-in-Italy textiles (including wool, cotton, linen, silk and knits) posted a +32.4% increase over the previous year, reaching Euro 8.1 billion and thus contributing 13.1% to the overall result of the Textiles-Fashion Apparel industry.
It is particularly important to compare the current values with the pre-pandemic levels for the years spanning from 2016 to 2019, always below Euro 8 billion, showing a +7.1% uptrend over 2019.
An analysis of the segments shows positive double-digit variations. Wool is the main segment, accounting for 35.2% of Made-in-Italy textiles, followed by knits (22.8%), with cotton making for 19.5%.
The domestic market, worth over Euro 3,500 million, and often represented by luxury brands, recorded a positive performance again, up +32.9% on a y-o-y basis.
The performance of trade “from” and “to” Italy showed a double-digit growth rate: exports are expected to close with a +31.9% increase over the 12 months while imports should rise by +40.2%. Overall exports would thus surpass Euro 4,580 million (exceeding the 2021 result by about Euro 1,100 million), while imports would total approximately Euro 2,400 million.
As a result of the abovementioned positive performance of exports, the trade surplus for the industry is expected to rise by nearly Euro 400 million over 2021, topping Euro 2,190 million.
Specifically considering the results of the single export markets, the main partners of the Italian textile producers and based on ISTAT data referring to the January-September 2022 period, the China+Hong Kong area with total exports from Italy of approximately Euro 264 million, would represente the first ranking export market for Made-in-Italy textiles, while China alone would come in third, up +31% with a 6.8% share on total exports after France which grew by +36.8%, with a 8.5% incidence on total exports and Germany, up +41.8%, with a share equal to 7.8%. Romania ranks fourth with a +27.3% growth rate, followed by Tunisia, up sharply by +75.5%, making for 5.3% of total exports. Spain recorded a +12% increase, Turkey +74.6% and the USA +40.6%, coming in eighth in the ranking of the export markets.
In addition to the comparative analysis of the performance of the markets of Made-in-Italy textiles with 2021, it is also interesting to consider the pre-pandemic results. A majority of the markets seem to have recovered from the hard blow inflicted by the consequences of the health crisis. If we limit the analysis to the top ten markets, only Romania and Portugal did not close the gap, and still present a -3.7% and -5.8% difference, respectively, against the January-September 2019 period. Other important markets raise greater concerns: first and foremost Hong Kong, which compared to the same period of 2019, recorded a -21.2% reduction. Japan and the UK were also down, by -39.1% and -20.6%.
The geographic analysis of imports – characterized by high concentration in the extra-EU universe (73.5%) – confirms the leadership of the first two suppliers, namely China and Turkey. China ranks first again and presented a +96.6% growth rate in the January-September 2022 period, with a 29.7% incidence on total imports; Turkey comes second with a 19.8% share, up +9.3%. Pakistan followed with +57.4%.
In addition to the market performance, it is also possible to analyze the results obtained by the different product categories, in particular with reference to the pre-pandemic period: knits exceeded the level recorded in the first nine months of 2019 by +33.6%, linen +28.6% and cotton +8.6%. The other categories have not yet returned to the pre-pandemic levels. In particular, worsted wool still presents a -9.1% gap, despite the +75.3% increase recorded over the comparative period of 2021.
As to imports in the January-September 2022 period, knits rose +25.9% over 2021; cotton was up +51.4% and linen shot up by +106.6%. Imports of carded wool fabrics performed positively, up +30.6% and worsted wool +62,1%. Last but not least, pure silk was up +99.5%.
Data processed by Confindustria Moda’s Research Center
