Buyers from 150 countries at the Salone: 'Italian design sets the rules'.

"There is a lot of competition now in the UAE market. The eyes of the whole world are on our country. But when it comes to design, no other country can compete with Italian products, because they manage to combine creativity, passion, national identity and quality better than any other.

Arif Bhaldar arrives from Dubai, where the headquarters of the group of which he is general manager for public relations, Danube Group, which includes both a division dedicated to the resale of furniture and a division dedicated to real estate developments, is located. He is at the Salone del Mobile in Milan for the second time, invited through the incoming buyer programme promoted by the government agency Ice which, this year, brought some 350 qualified operators and journalists from 50 countries to the event, with 27 delegations arriving from the most promising emerging markets of Asia and Africa.

The aim is to encourage foreign market diversification by companies in the sector - especially the smallest ones which are still very unbalanced on the domestic or at most the European market - at a time when the traditional outlets for Italian-made design, such as France and Germany, are slowing down and there is uncertainty over a key marketplace such as the United States, due to duties and their possible effects. Despite the slight drop recorded in 2024 (-1.8% compared to 2023, according to data released by FederlegnoArredo), exports account for more than half of the turnover generated by the Italian furniture industry (€14.4 billion last year) and will remain the sector's main growth engine in the coming years. And the Salone del Mobile in Milan, with professional visitors expected from 150 countries, is certainly one of the most effective showcases for companies wishing to consolidate their international presence.

'Dubai is an ideal market for Italian furniture companies,' Bhaldar continues. The government is investing heavily in new real estate developments, which offer important opportunities for those working in the large projects sector. But the retail channel is also very dynamic and in fact more and more companies are investing in opening shops'. Moreover, the United Arab Emirates is the market that grew the most last year (+22.2%), reaching Euro 402.2 million in exports, ousting China from seventh place in the ranking of the main trade destinations.

Saudi Arabia, with 243.5 million euros of exports, also recorded a significant increase in 2024 (+14.6%) and is one of the areas that companies in the sector are looking at with the greatest interest, also in view of a possible spin-off of the Salone del Mobile that could take place next year in Riyadh. "Italian furniture enjoys great prestige in our country," says Mazen Hakki, CEO of Saaf Contracting, a Riyadh-based group that deals with large-scale real estate developments. "The opportunities are enormous and not only in the contract channel, but also in retail, although in this case it is necessary to operate through a local partner. The high-end segment is the one in which the Italians have no rivals and is therefore certainly sheltered from competition from Turkish and Chinese manufacturers, but I believe there are also interesting spaces in the mid-range'.