Made in Italy footwear and leather goods will be presented to the Russian market between 18 and 21 January. The presentation will be at the twenty second Consumexpo, the huge consumer goods exhibition which will take place at the Moscow Expocenter, one of the largest exhibition centres in Eastern Europe. The collective presentation organised by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade will concentrate on leather goods and footwear, with 66 Italian businesses taking part in the exhibition. The figures from the 2009 Consumexpo are enough to give an idea of its size: more than 12 thousand visitors with 700 exhibitors from 23 different countries in a space of 40 thousand square metres. The event is aimed at both final users of consumer goods and trade visitors and is vital in gaining an understanding of local market trends and the spending capacity of Russian consumers.

With around 6,450 businesses active in the sector, 900 of which are exporters, and a 78% share of the export market in 2008, Italy is the primary producer of footwear in Europe and the eighth largest globally. Moreover, footwear is a highly export oriented sector: 90% of total sales are exports. The interest of Italian businesses in the vast Russian market remains high even in the current period in which there has been a fall in exports. In fact, this market recorded strong growth in value, volume and average price in the first nine months of 2008, while there was a slow down in consumption in the October-December quarter. However, Moscow continues to be a successful marketplace for Italian imports, particularly footwear and leather goods. In the period January-November 2008, Italian exports to the ex-Federation reached Euro 562 million, up 14.64% on the corresponding period in 2007. 7 million pairs of shoes at an average price of Euro 80 were exported in the same period, a statistic which confirms the excellent value for money which makes Italian products stand out worldwide. By November 2008 exports of Italian footwear had shown an increase of 10.66% over the same period in 2007 and the leather goods sector as a whole has shown continuous growth for several years.

Despite the hardships suffered by other sectors, the leatherworking skills of Italian craftsmen and businesses continue to be held in particularly high regard, with a strong growth in purchases of Italian leather goods. According to the forecast of Istat (the Italian National Institute of Statistics), total exports of Made in Italy products to Russia, the countries of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States will reach an estimated Euro 6 billion. The entire Italian textile, clothing, leather and accessories manufacturing sector, together with leather goods and shoe components, has seen growth of 2.4% in production.