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The Italian Furniture Sector Reports
¡¾Feb.18, 2002¡¿

The Italian Furniture Sector

Production

Italy is the largest European furniture producer, with a share of total European production of about 26% worth 19,096 million Euro.

The breakdown of production in 200, according to product type, is as follows: Upholstered furniture accounts for a substantial quota of Italian production (18% of total supply), with kitchen furniture claiming 11.6% and office furniture 7.5%.

Year 2000 witnessed an increase in production of 10% at current prices (more pronounced in the upholstered furniture sector: +13%), to reach about Euro 19,000 million. Exports, particularly to other European countries, contributed considerably to sustaining production in 2000. A growth in production in a range of 1%-3% is expected to be reported for for year 2001. Prices continued a pattern set in recent years, registering a +1.5% change in year 2000, with reference to the previous year.

Furniture consumption in 2000 was Euro 10,999 million, an increase of 4% on the previous year. Italy was the second largest furniture consumer, absorbing 15% of total European consumption, following Germany which absorbed over 27%.

At present the Russian market is attracting the attention of exporters in. This is mainly because of the recovery in the Russian economy and the Russian consumer's preference for Italian furniture products (both in the contract segment of the market and on the personal consumption side).

Italy's presence in the Russian market has grown steadily (except in 1998 and 1999) since 1993 and today Russia represents the sixth most important destination for Italian exports. The growth of Italian furniture exports to Russia registered in the firs six months of year 2001 is in the range of 10% and expectations are of an increasing recovery until the end of the year.