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TOP ITALIAN TEXTILES ON SHOW IN MILAN
Rome (Ign) - Wool, cotton and above all silk will be the protagonists between 13 and 16 February 2007 of Milano Unica, an international textiles show resulting from the experience, quality and tradition of five major names in the Italian world of trade fairs: Ideabiella, Ideacomo, Moda In, Prato Expo, eand Shirt Avenue. In two editions per year (February and September) Milano Unica (www.milanounica.it) offers the top of the range of Italian and European textiles production. The last edition, which presented the textiles collections for Autumn-Winter 2007, exceeded the rosiest expectations, with over 35,000 visitors, compared to 30,000 the previous edition. Almost 20,000 companies were present, of which 6,704 were from abroad (+ 30%). Particular increases were seen in those from emerging countries (Korea, Hong Kong, India and Russia). But there was also a significant return of buyers from markets of reference such as Japan and the USA, and above all from countries in Europe, led by Great Britain, Germany, Spain and France. These are figures the organisers are confident they can exceed in 2007, thanks to the intense work of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), the Milan Chambers of Commerce and the Ministry of International Trade.
This is an important opportunity for a fundamental sector in Italian industry: according to figures published by Smi-Ati (www.smi-ati.it), weaving (cotton, wool, silk and knitwear) generated business worth 8.6bn in 2005, accounting for 35% of the overall trade surplus in the Italian textiles and fashion supply chain. In terms of export markets, results were promising to Bulgaria (+9.3%) and Portugal (+4.5%); even more satisfying were Asian marketplaces: Japan (+9.8%), Hong Kong (+12.8%) and China (+35.3%). This series of positive results leads us to believe that the widespread crisis that struck the entire sector textiles is now behind us, and that the effects of recovery are also beginning to be felt by the 8500 or so Italian textiles businesses, almost all (89%) of which have fewer than 15 employees. The turnover in the sector has now been stable for almost two years, a sign that the process of reconstruction is successful and, above all, that companies are coping with the competition.
Recovery was confirmed by the figures for 2006: in the first nine months of the year, in the wool sector the downturn in exports towards the traditional markets of the EU (France and Germany) was more than compensated for by the growth in demand from Eastern Europe (Poland, +123%, Hungary, +47%, and the Czech Republic +153%), and by confirmation of the increase in Asia, with an extremely dynamic trend of sales to China (+12%). And if we add to these figures the goods passing through Hong Kong, turnover in the first nine months of 2006 saw an increase of 2.6%. The quantity of products sold increased less than turnover, a sign that companies are shifting strategic focus from "volume" to "value". Exceptional results have been achieved by textiles for women's clothes and men's ties. The weaving field, then, confirms the general rule of Italian textiles: the best part of any supply chain starts growing again after moments of crisis. Clearly, the Italian name and creativity always pay.
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