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ITALY IN THE EMIRATES: A BET TO BE WON
Rome (Ign) - Italian Lifestyle in the Emirates is the great exhibition in the Arab Emirates, totally dedicated to Italy.130 companies will bring the best of their production to the attention of 12,000 visitors at the (www.italianlifestyle
intheemirates.it) event which will be held from 29th May until 1st June in the Sharjah Exhibition Centre. The Emirates now represent one of the most promising international markets, in continuous growth, both in terms of internal demand, and for their role as an open showcase for all the markets in the area, but also for more distant markets, such as Russia and India. Over the last five years, import in the Emirates has constantly grown, reaching about € 2 billion a year. Italy is in the fourth place out of the country's main commercial partners. Hence, the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) has organised Italy's presence in Sharjah in association with the National Confederation of Handicrafts, Confartigianato and Artex, the Artistic and Traditional Handicraft Centre in Tuscany (www.artex.firenze.it). The event will reunite numerous Italian companies active in multiple sectors, from quality agri-foodstuffs, to home furnishings and construction materials and home decoration, and also building services and materials.
There are great expectations for the agri-foodstuffs industry which, after four stagnant years, saw a 10% increase in export for 2006, whilst the turnover for the whole division reached € 100 billion, a 2.8% increase. This is an industrial structure made up of over 30,000 companies, 75% of which have less than 10 permanent members of staff, and which by 2006 had invested around € 3 billion in the safety and quality control of their products. This has made it possible for Italian products to present themselves with increasing effectiveness on many markets, hence guaranteeing constant growth in export in numerous divisions. This is true, for example, for cheese and dairy products, whose sales on the international markets in 2006 saw a large increase, with particularly high peaks for top quality products, such as provolone (+57%), pecorino (+56%) and the parmigiano reggiano and grana padano 'couple' (+29%).
Coming to the building materials industry, Italy is certainly well represented by tiles and ceramics. The division has almost 300 companies, with 34,000 employees and a total turnover of € 6.5 billion, mainly sustained by the larger companies, which in 2006 saw a 9% increase in production value, 6% in profitability and 18% in investments. These companies produce very high quality products from bathroom ceramics to dishes, porcelain for ornamental use and high resistance stoneware for industrial use. The furnishings industry is also growing, which, according to the Cosmit/Federlegno-Arredo Study Centre, created a total turnover of € 41 billion in 2006, 1.9% more than the previous year. Export is also positive with a 5.8% increase. This is an advanced industrial system, with 60% of production from industrial districts, where 45% of the industry employees work. Foreign sales are highest in the emerging countries. Purchases in Russia grew last year by 20.6%, exceeding € 670 million and bringing Russia to sixth place for outlet markets, whilst the Arab Emirates with € 124 million export, occupy the 15th place, but with growth rates of 17.1% compared to 2005.
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