Wood furniture, stable exports in March. Awaiting Trump's tariffs
FederlegnoArredo data based on Istat show a -0.4 per cent of exports in the first quarter, but a +3.3 per cent for the United States
3' min read
3' min read
Despite the constant announcements and counter-announcements (or perhaps because of them), the US tariffs that Trump has once again postponed from 9 July to 1 August have already had an effect on exports of Italian furniture and wood products: in the first quarter of this year, sales to the USA rose by 3%, after the 0.1% drop recorded in the January-February period, perhaps in an attempt to anticipate the application of the tariffs announced by Trump, who just yesterday signed the executive order extending the deadline from 9 July to 1 August.
The expectations for the US market
.This effect was all in all expected, as explained by Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, who released data on the sector's exports between January and March this year, which indicate an overall -0.4% compared to the same period last year and +0.1% in March compared to March 2024.
Conversely, companies are likely to expect a slowdown in the US market in the following months, either as a result of a rebound from this 'glut' (retailers have been hoarding products to secure stocks at current prices but will now have to deplete these stocks), or as a consequence of the tariffs that will be applied, or as a result of the devaluation of the dollar, which is now worth 13.5 per cent and reduces the purchasing power of Americans.
Looking for new markets
.All that remains is to look elsewhere and continue to invest in developing and consolidating or relaunching other markets. But which ones? "The situation is not easy,' says Feltrin, commenting on the export data for March. 'Europe is still in trouble, with France and Germany, our main partners, lagging behind, partly compensated by the good performance of Spain, which scores +7.4%, and the United Kingdom, which grows by 3.3%.
The United Arab Emirates is doing very well, posting +11% to add to its excellent performance in 2024 (+25%), but the numbers in this market still remain small. Just as small are the numbers of another potentially strategic country, India, but which still presents many problems: "Consumer taste is still far from that of our design," Feltrin observes, "and it is a complex market from the distribution point of view, where, moreover, there is already a system of customs tariffs. Moreover, a new certification (the Furniture Quality Control Order) is due to come into force next February, imposing a series of standards on furniture entering the country, creating de facto non-tariff tariffs that will certainly not help Italian furniture exports.
