In view of Pitti Filati, the Italian Fashion System Study Center (Smi) and Confindustria Moda outline a positive picture for Italian spinning, meaning that includes the production of wool, cotton and linen yarns.
The 2021 sector balance returns characterized by a very favorable evolution, “mainly due to the relaunch that primarily affected knitwear and knitted fabrics in the emerging paradigm after the pandemic”, reads the note published by Pitti Immagine , the company that organizes the Florentine salons. As anticipated in the preliminary data released last February on the occasion of the previous edition of Pitti Filati, the spinning mill is archiving 2021 on the rise: if four months ago an increase of the order of + 21.4% was prudently estimated, in the final balance the sectoral turnover scores a much more decisive + 28.7% on an annual basis, earning around 580 million in twelve months. The turnover is therefore equal to 2.6 billion euros. Compared to the level of 2019, however, a small gap remains at -6.3% (174 million less in absolute value.)
The return of the fair in the Fortezza
Pitti Filati is the reference show for the world of yarns and knitwear at an international level and from Wednesday 29 June to Friday 1 July returns to its original location of the Fortezza Da Basso. After two editions staged at the Stazione Leopolda, the fair regains its initial dimension, with the spaces and large installations of the companies that have characterized the event from the beginning. In addition to the collections for autumn-winter 2023-24 of the most important Italian and international spinning mills (114 brands present), at Pitti Filati there will be the trends of tomorrow, told in the Spazio Ricerca with special installations by Angelo Figus and Nicola Miller , the new knitwear proposals of the Knitclub area and the special areas of Fashion at Work and CustomEasy.
The trend of the first quarter of 2022
For the Italian spinning mill, 2022 opened with very satisfactory performances, which the sector had not experienced for some time. If in the first quarter of 2021 the Istat industrial production index relating to spinning activities (Ateco code CB 13.1) had recorded only a very timid first sign of recovery (+ 0.1%), January-March 2022 shows a very significant increase lively, or + 21.0%; after all, production activity in January and February moved on similar double-digit tones, respectively equal to + 18.1% and + 17.5%. If we look at the performances in terms of quantity, from January to March 2022 exports showed a recovery of + 10.0%, therefore less intense than that recorded by the values, which inevitably incorporate the increases in fiber prices. Wool yarns grew in volume by + 29.9% in the case of combed and + 19.0% in the case of carded; a trend of -8.6% is recorded for the chemical-wool blends; those for hand-knitting increased, on the other hand, by + 8.4% in quantity. Exports in tonnes of cotton and linen yarns show a positive trend, but of varying intensity: the former grow by + 5.8%, the latter by + 24.7%.
The unknowns for the rest of the year
Similar results were achieved despite the upward trend in the prices of energy raw materials and those mainly used in the sector. Both wool and cotton recorded significant increases in the twelve months of the year: the Awex Eastern index gained + 14.2%, the A index of cotton + 33.9% in European currency, discounting the increases occurred mainly starting from the summer months. With reference to 2021, also given the explosion in fiber prices mainly in the second half of the year, the Italian spinning industry has only minimally discharged the increase in product prices: the spinning producer price index monitored by Istat recorded a growth of + 1.8% on an annual basis.