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Home > Business Events
FURNITURE MADE IN ITALY SHOWS ITS STRENGTH IN MOSCOW
For the fifteenth time, Italian companies will be participating with the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade at the Mebel trade fair in Moscow, the main international trade fair event in Russia for the furniture and furnishing accessories sector. The twenty-first running of the event will take place from 23 to 27 November 2009 in Moscow’s Expocentre trade fair district. The group organised by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade will this year include the participation of 135 Italian companies. They will occupy an area of 16 thousand square metres within pavilion 2 of the trade fair. These companies account for 58% of the furniture sector in all its facets, from classical to elegant, and represent the crème de la crème of the Italian manufacturing scene. The rest of the participating companies will exhibit furnishing and kitchen accessories as well as office furniture and lighting. It is a significant time for the re-launch of the whole Italian furniture sector, which is recognised throughout the world for its strengths in terms of quality and attention to detail. Despite the downturn in the international economy, the Russian Federation has confirmed its position as an important export destination for Italian companies: so much so that it is now the second most important market for Italian furniture exports. At the end of 2008, the Italian furniture sector comprised 75 thousand companies and more than 400 thousand employees. While it has not been entirely immune to the widespread crisis affecting international trade, it has also demonstrated the soundness of its industrial base by managing to contain the negative effects. And whereas exports in other sectors experienced double-digit losses, the furniture sector at the end of 2008 saw a decrease of only 2%, following the strong growth which had been a feature of the two previous years (2006 and 2007). Italian exports in the furniture sector have now attained 52.5% of turnover hence their resilience is of strategic importance for the entire sector. According to the FederlegnoArredo trade association, the category’s 2% decrease (certainly below the most pessimistic expectations) is not a negative result in this context but is rather a significant sign of the competitiveness of Italian products, despite the international economic difficulties. This is supported by the fact that the trade balance for furniture at the end of 2008 reached 6.6 billion Euros, growing by 5.9% compared to 2007. The participation of Italian companies at an event as specialised and international as Mebel will once more demonstrate the sector’s sound health. The Mebel trade fair in 2008 saw involvement from 1,200 companies (including 620 Russian ones) coming from 36 countries, over a total area of 45,500 square metres. More than 60 thousand visitors were recorded. The furniture market in the Russian Federation has huge potential, with annual growth of around 15-25%. There is also a high propensity to import from overseas, with special priority given to “Premium” (or elite) class furniture. While demand for luxury furniture still remains solid, new construction of buildings for private use (especially in the large Moscow metropolitan area) has also stimulated growth in demand for mid-level furniture.
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