Furniture Fair kicks off, business alarm over Trump's tariffs
Over 2,100 companies at Fiera Milano awaiting visitors from 150 countries
3' min read
3' min read
"We are here doing our job, sitting at the table to sign contracts with the whole world. Our supply chain exports more than 50 per cent of its production and the United States is the second destination for our products, so duties are a problem for us," Maria Porro, president of the Milan Furniture Fair, but also of Assarredo, does not hide the companies' apprehension about the uncertainty generated by the measures announced by President Trump.
The shadow of duties on the Salon
.An uncertainty that is partly clouding the celebrations for the opening today of the Milan Furniture Fair, which will be held at Fiera Milano in Rho until Sunday 13 April, with 2,103 entrepreneurs from 37 countries. "Companies need financial support in the immediate term. In the medium and long term, we will certainly work to further diversify and consolidate our reference markets, starting with the Middle East, and we are here at the Salone for this. But today, in the immediate term, companies really need support, especially those that have invested so much in the US over the last few years".
January recovery: production +7.8%
The cold shower of duties, as FederlegnoArredo president Claudio Feltrin called it, also calls into question the feeling of recovery with which the year had opened: a 7.8% increase in production that had given furniture companies hope after a 2024 that closed, for the supply chain, with a 2.9% drop in turnover (to 51.7 billion euro) and 2.3% for the furniture sector alone (27.5 billion euro turnover).
Furniture exports also returned positive in January (+4%), with the EU countries (+5.9%), as well as the UK (+8.1%) and Mercosur (+39.9%) recovering, while the US (-2.7%) and China (-1.7%) declined.
And if the companies present at the Show are looking at the whole world (professional visitors from 150 countries are expected), the Show itself has worked towards this goal together with the Ice agency, as Maurizio Forte, head of the Central Directorate for Export Sectors, reminded us: 'During these days, 150 selected buyers and almost 200 journalists from 50 countries will arrive at the Fair, more than half, with 27 delegations, come from emerging markets in Asia and Africa, confirming the great attention paid to these destinations'.
