Italian textile in 2018
Economic note
ITALIAN TEXTILES: SALES HOLD STEADY IN 2018 (EURO 7.86 BLN), TRADE
BALANCE IS POSITIVE (EURO 2.45 BLN) UP +5.5% THANKS TO REDUCED
IMPORTS (-5.9%) AND A SLIGHT INCREASE IN EXPORTS (+0.3%).
EXPORTS TO CHINA (+3%) AND HONG KONG (+6.1%) GREW STRONGER
DESPITE THE SLOWDOWN IN THAT LARGE MARKET, WHILE GERMANY
(-2.1%) HOLDS SECOND PLACE AS MADE-IN-ITALY TEXTILE MARKET
OCCUPATION HOLDS THANKS TO WOOL MILLS
According to Confindustria Moda’s Research Center estimates, Made-in-Italy textiles (including wool, cotton and silk fabrics and knits) are expected to close 2018 with overall sales of euro 7.86 billion, marginally down (- 0.3%) as a result of the slowdown in production registered in the second half of last year.
This slowdown, however, had no significant repercussion on jobs in the industry as a whole. According to the Scenario Survey conducted by Confindustria Moda on a panel of businesses members of SMI, there was a moderate increase in the headcount in the wool fabrics segment.
The stable figures of Made-in-Italy fabrics are mainly attributable to reduced imports, favoring Italian domestic products, along with growing sales in extra EU markets (+2.9%) and despite dropping exports (-3.4%) to intra-EU markets.
China (+3%) and Hong Kong (+6.1%) confirmed their status as the leading export market for Made-in-Italy textiles in the first ten months of 2018, despite the slowdown in China. Exports performed positively in Japan (+8.6%), Bulgaria (+7.2%), Poland (+4.9%), Turkey (+3.1%) and France (+0.2%), while a negative performance was recorded for the USA (-12.%), Spain (-9.8%%), UK (-7.5%), Romania (-5.3%) and Germany (-2.1%).
Imports of fabrics were down sharply (-5.9%). China (-2.9%) and Turkey (-9.4), though on a downtrend, make for over 45% of the total, with market shares of 24.7% and 20.4%, respectively. Also imports from Pakistan and Germany fell. Conversely, imports from Romania (+36.8%), Japan (+15.5%) and the Czech Republic (+2.5%) performed positively.
As a result of the sales performance described above, the trade balance for the industry grew significantly (+5.5%), amounting to euro 2.45 million. This is particularly important if we consider the surplus of the weaving sector that makes for 24.6% of the comprehensive Textiles/Apparel trade balance, even if weaving only corresponds to 14.3% of total sales.
With reference to the different segments considered, wool, linen and silk fabrics are expected to close 2018 with a positive performance. Conversely, cotton fabrics are expected to continue on a downtrend.
Lastly, after the positive parenthesis in 2017, knits are expected to perform negatively again. The same trend is also confirmed for exports. In the January-October 2018 period exports of fabrics were up (combed fabrics +4.4%, totaling euro 738.4 million; worsted fabrics +2.9% for a total value of euro 392.5 million) along with linen fabrics (+8.6%). Conversely, all other types of fabrics posted a fall in exports. Knits, abandoning the positive performance recorded in 2017, dropped by -3.2%. Exports of
cotton fabrics were down -3.8%, while pure silk fabrics limited their fall to -0.6%.
In the January-October 2018 period, imports recorded particularly significant increases especially for linen fabrics (+16.6%) and pure silk (+21.3%). Imports of wool fabrics were also up, with combed wool up +7.5% and worsted wool up by +8.5%. Conversely, double-digit reductions were recorded for imports of
knits, down -13.3%, and cotton fabrics, down -10,9%.
