Legnoarredo, exports stable in March. Waiting for Trump's duties
Despite the continuous announcements and counter-announcements (or perhaps because of them), the US duties that Trump has once again postponed from July 9 to August 1 have already had an effect on exports of Italian furniture and wood products: in the first quarter of this year, sales to the US have in fact increased by 3%, after the 0.1% drop recorded in the January-February period, perhaps in an attempt to anticipate the application of the duties announced by Trump, who just yesterday signed the executive order extending the deadline from July 9 to August 1.
An effect that was all in all expected, as explained by Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, who released the data on exports in the sector between January and March of this year, which indicate an overall -0.4% compared to the same period last year and a +0.1% in March compared to March 2024.
Likewise, conversely, companies probably expect a slowdown in the US market in the coming months, both due to a rebound in this "binge" (retailers have been stocking up on products to ensure they have supplies at current prices but will now have to exhaust these supplies), and as a consequence of the duties that will be applied, and as a result of the devaluation of the dollar, which is now worth 13.5% and reducing Americans' purchasing power.
All that remains is to look elsewhere and continue to invest to develop and consolidate or relaunch other markets. But which ones? "The situation is not easy - says Feltrin commenting on the export data for March -: Europe is still struggling, with France and Germany, our main partners, falling behind, partly offset by the good performance of Spain, which marks a +7.4%, and the United Kingdom, which grows by 3.3%".
The United Arab Emirates are doing very well, marking a +11% to add to the excellent performance of 2024 (+25%), but the numbers of this market are still 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 - observes Feltrin - and it is a complex market from the point of view of distribution, where moreover a system of customs duties already exists". Furthermore, a new certification (the Furniture Quality Control Order) should come into force next February, which imposes a series of standards on furniture entering the country, effectively creating a non-tariff duty that will certainly not help Italian furniture exports.
Going into the details of the data released by Fla, the European Union confirms itself as the first reference market for Italian wood-furniture, with a stationary trend of -0.2%), while exports to non-EU countries grow by 1.7%, reaching 690 million euros.
The furniture system recorded a -1.1% with 3.4 billion in exports, with a more marked slowdown for kitchens (-8.3%) and offices (-9.8%) while the wood macrosystem did +1.6% for a value equal to 1.25 billion euros, due to the good performance (+9.7%) of furnishing products and finishes for construction.
Feltrin also emphasizes the significant increase in imports from China, which grew by 25% in March compared to March 2024, while the cumulative figure for the quarter even marks an increase of 38.2%. However, Istat data for April 2025 report a 3.5% drop in imports for furniture, which could indicate a small positive signal, but we need to wait for the next few months to understand what the trend is. "The advance of the Chinese giant should not make us feel too comfortable," says Feltrin. It is no coincidence that, due to the climate of confidence expressed by companies in May, the balance of opinions on orders stands at -24.1%, worse than the -20.2% of April.
The data processed by the FederlegnoArredo Study Center on Istat data actually photograph a sector that, like many others, is "forced to sit on the sidelines", waiting to really understand what will happen in terms of duties and what path Trump intends to take. "As has been happening for almost a year now, for different reasons, but all highly complex - adds Feltrin - being able to imagine even the immediate future is truly impossible, but the clear fact is that while we are at the mercy of the US president's statements, the negative trend of the main countries that import our products continues".
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