Italian tanners: let’s create a common home in Brussels with other natural materials
UNIC Assembly July 1 in Milan takes stock of activities and announces major projects to meet future challenges
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Current (partial) estimates on the performance of the Italian tanning industry in the first half of 2024 show an overall decline of 3.1 percent in turnover and 2.7 percent in production volumes compared to the corresponding period last year.
After ending 2023 with a loss of 6.5 percent in value and 9.5 percent in volume, the current year has shown so far little change in the negative market trend for the industry and the entire leather supply chain. The persistent generalized consumer purchasing pain, particularly relevant for fashion and furniture goods (as compared to services and technology products, for example), originated from the inflationary wave
triggered in 2022 due to the post-Covid recovery and the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but it amplified during the past year and the early months of the current one, partly due to Middle East tensions and uncertain political forecasts in the EU (new EU Parliament and Commission, elections in some important member countries) and the US (presidential elections in November). The widespread climate of uncertainty is also holding back sales of high-end brands, which had been an important driver for the Italian tannery in recent years but are now suffering (almost) as much as other product ranges.
Italian export flows of leather also showed an overall decline, down 1.6% in value in the January-May 2024 period, compared with the same period last year. Despite the negative sign of total exports, the analysis of flows by main destination country registered differentiated trends, even of considerable intensity. Among the top 20 destination countries, Spain (+16%), China (+17%, including Hong Kong), Vietnam (+39%), Germany (+6%), Serbia (+6%), Mexico (+11%), South Korea (+3%) and India (+1%) grew, while Romania (-12%), the US (-4%), Tunisia (-13%), Portugal (-18%), Poland (-8%), Albania (-8%), the UK (-3%), Slovakia (-17%), the Czech Republic (-10%) and Turkey (as much as -42%) are falling. Stable was France, the first foreign destination for Italian leathers.
Analysis of the performances of the individual segments and production districts of the Italian tanning industry unfortunately highlights no exceptions to the negative picture mentioned above. In terms of production by animal origin, bovine leathers showed, on average, slightly less negative variations than sheep and goat leathers, while, in terms of client sector, difficulties appear widespread across all types of destination use. Declining are the turnovers of all major national tanning districts.
OTHER COUNTRIES
At the global level, monitoring the production of medium-large bovine leather in the first part of 2024 offers a broadly declining picture, both in the rest of Europe (with major losses in Germany, Portugal, Austria, and the United Kingdom, and milder decreases in France and Spain) and in the other world areas (again, sharp declines everywhere except China, which declares recovery, and Brazil, which registers moderate decreases). In the calf leather segment, negative average sign in France and positive in Spain, while for sheep and goat leathers the overview is more differentiated (China, Spain and France on the rise, the other main producers in the segment on the decline).
TEXTILES, SYNTHETICS AND LEATHER ALTERNATIVES
The first half of the year shows a general slowdown in the sector at the EU level, which closes in a deadlock over the previous six months tried due to weakness in the Germans and declines in the Italians despite the good performance of the French. Heavy declines for regenerated leather fibers, also bad the synthetic fabric materials. Sluggish dynamics in the synthetic.
ACCESSORIES AND COMPONENTS
Negative performance in 2024 partial, with all major EU manufacturers on the decline with the exception of the Romanians. At the segment level, thought double-digit declines affect other footwear parts, significant but more moderate losses for small metal parts and other accessories.
