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2023 has started under the banner of growth in the made in Italy footwear sector. In the first quarter of 2023, according to data processed by the Confindustria moda study center for Assocalzaturifici, the Italian shoe industry recorded a growth in turnover of +13.6% compared to the period January-March 2022. Up by double digits ( +21%) also the trade balance.
The data comes after a “record” 2022 with revenues of 12.65 billion euros, up 23% compared to 2021, also driven by the increase in prices linked to both inflation and the increase in the cost of raw materials and of energy. This issue of the cost of raw materials and energy has not ceased to worry Italian entrepreneurs in the sector, but represents – according to a survey also conducted by Confindustria moda on behalf of Assocalzaturifici – the problem with the greatest impact on the financial statements of companies in the sector . «The survey among our associates – notes Giovanna Ceolini, president of Assocalzaturifici – showed how the high costs of energy and raw materials currently represent the major problem for footwear companies, due to the strong impact on company balance sheets. The answers collected also confirmed the tightening in the last few months of the bank credit offer reported by the Bank of Italy and by Istat: as many as 39% of the sample (a share that rises to 51% if we do not consider the companies that declared they did not currently resorting to it) has experienced a deterioration in this regard. Finally, the analysis reaffirmed how the problem of finding qualified manpower is considered relevant for their own business reality by 84% of entrepreneurs in the sector».
Returning to the numbers of the sector, the data highlight the by now consolidated key role of exports which in the first three months of this year rose by 16.1% in value. If the top 20 foreign customers of Italian footwear (except Switzerland, the hub of some luxury groups) have achieved increases in value, the same does not apply to volumes: «North America slows down dramatically (-19.4%) and Germany (-8.8%), the United Kingdom (-10.1%) and direct flows to Switzerland (-24.8%) are slowing down. Rebound in Russia and Ukraine, even if it should be taken into account that in March of last year, immediately after the start of the conflict, sales to the two markets had collapsed; rewarding results in Kazakhstan (+77% in value)», explains the president of Assocalzaturifici. Analyzing exports by product type, it emerges that the footwear sector with leather uppers – first in importance with a 63% incidence on foreign sales in value – is the only one to present increases in exports in the first quarter both in value (slightly above the average, +18.6%) and in volume (+1.4%) compared with January-March 2022. The figure in volume, however, is still lower (-16.6%) than the one recorded in 2019.
In general, the first signs of a slowdown are coming from companies compared to the growth rates recorded in 2021 and 2022 with the post-Covid rebound: in the first 3 months, albeit slightly, the quantities exported (-2%) and those produced (-1% the Istat index of industrial production).
One positive figure, however, comes from the recovery in consumption in our country: «The recovery on the domestic market continues, +8.2% in household purchase spending over January-March 2022», concludes Ceolini.