The wood-furniture industry closed the first quarter of 2024 with a drop of 7.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The contraction was caused by both the domestic market (-8.7 percent) and exports
(-6.2 percent), which accounts for 43 percent of total sales. Nevertheless, companies indicate an overall growth of 1.5 percent for 2024 (see GRAPHIC), driven by exports (+4.3 percent) and substantial stability of the domestic market (-0.4 percent), with differentiated prospects between the furniture (+3.2 percent) and wood (-1.1 percent) macro-systems. These figures show a downturn compared to those at the beginning of the year: +1.7 percent for Italy, +8.5 percent for exports, for an overall growth estimated at 4.5 percent, but they should be read within a period that has seen the sector register great growth in recent years. We can speak of a physiological normalisation that in any case sees the sector still with a positive sign: a result that is anything but taken for granted, testifying to the vitality of the sector and its ability to grow despite complex contexts.
These are the Monitor data processed by the FederlegnoArredo Study Centre on a representative sample of companies released on the eve of the Federation’s annual assembly, scheduled tomorrow, Thursday 27 June, at the H-FARM campus in Roncade.
The assembly will be an opportunity, the organisers anticipate, to discuss with associates and stakeholders the future of the sector and new projects, but also to focus on the crucial role of sustainability and to explore in an innovative way the ESG principles that are fundamental for the development of the sector.
In fact, the focus was on FederlegnoArredo’s project to promote a consortium to deal with the end-of-life of products in the furnishing supply chain, with the intervention of the Deputy Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Vannia Gava. The debate, moderated by Alessandro Garofalo – founder and owner of Garofalo & Idee Associate Srl – will be enriched by the testimonies of Riccardo Donadon of H-Farm, Roberto Coizet of Centro Materia Rinnovabile, Claudio Feltrin president of FederlegnoArredo and Maria Porro, president of Assarredo with responsibility for Sustainability and president of Salone del Mobile.
And precisely in terms of the future, the survey on the first quarter also highlights the lines of action that companies consider crucial for their development in the two-year period 2024-2025. Among the priorities, the themes of innovation, reduction of production costs and internationalisation clearly emerge. Sustainability, which is clearly now part of the industry’s DNA, is strongly interconnected with all other factors.
“It is fundamental for the federation to have a mapping of the sector’s priorities so as to orient interventions and proposals, in the knowledge that the external factors affecting the competitiveness of companies are multiple, complex, and in some cases outside our scope of action. I am thinking of inflation, the difficulty in accessing credit, and the burden in economic and human resources terms that companies have to bear in order to achieve energy efficiency that can no longer be ignored. In this scenario,’ comments Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, ‘we continue to focus on sustainability, which, in its broadest sense, is an effective response to at least some of the factors mentioned above.
We are also strengthening our commitment to supporting the competitiveness of the sector with FLA Plus, the platform developed to respond to the needs of companies with innovative and digital services, and we will not tire of arguing that sustainability is an indispensable driver of development that cannot be subject to inapplicable rules or unattainable goals. We will be vigilant and strict on the timing and methods of application in the interest of the productive fabric we represent”.
