Lighting: businesses fight back against the Chinese influx
In 2025, goods worth €6.7 billion were imported into the EU from China. Assoluce and Assil: more checks and certifications
Key points
“The end consumer shouldn’t need a degree to know what they’re buying: they must be protected at the source by a system of checks that guarantees the safety and quality of the products on the market.” Carlo Urbinati, president of Assoluce-FederlegnoArredo, does not mince his words: the influx of Asian products into Europe is not only a problem for the competitiveness of European businesses but also, and above all, for consumer protection.
This phenomenon is particularly evident in the lighting industry, where many small fixtures slip through customs checks and are therefore not included in the statistics.
The figures for Assoluce and Assil
According to data from the FederlegnoArredo research centre, imports of lighting products from China to the EU reached a value of €6.7 billion in 2025, accounting for 85% of the sector’s non-EU imports. This figure is rising steadily, although the first few months of 2026 show a decline, likely due to a comparison with last year’s particularly high levels: in the January-February period, there was a 2.3% decrease for Italia and a 10.9% decrease for the European Union compared with the same period in 2025.
Data from Assil also confirms this trend, as explained by its president, Carlo Comandini: according to a study by Anie (of which Assil is a member), by the end of 2024 the value of lighting products imported into Italia had reached €1.4 billion, with China accounting for 45%. “And these figures have continued to rise in 2025,” Comandini points out.
Unfair competition and poor security
However, these figures only tell part of the story: if this were a level playing field, competition from Chinese products should be driving European companies to improve the quality or value for money of their own products. But that is not the case: ‘There is a total lack of reciprocity, because Brussels rightly imposes a set of safety and sustainability rules on us European companies, which do not apply to non-European producers. Whereas when we export outside Europe, particularly to China, we are obliged to certify our products.’
