(R.SQUARE)Italian footwear obsessed time./Evil days of Italian footwear,

The dark time going on, Italian 

footwear- exports fall by 20%.

In the first nine months of 2020, the Italian footwear industry saw a decline in production (-29.4%) and sales (-33.1%). According to Assocalzaturifici Chair Siro Badon, president of the Associated Press, the timid prospect of a return to normalcy was affected by the second wave of the pandemic in the country.

The dynamic recorded by the Italian footwear industry in the third quarter of 2020 was less responsive, but still far from positive, according to data from the two surveys of the surveyed company, double-digit turnover of 26.6% turnover and data from Confindustria Moda Research Center for Assocalzaturifici.Only 14% of those interviewed surpassed or at least equalized their turnover in the third quarter of 2019, while more than half of the panel dropped -20 to -50%. This figure coincides with the Industrial Production Index of the Italian National Statistical Institute (Istat), which declined by 17.4% per month between July and September.

 “The accumulated statistics for the first 9 months of the year disclose a field that was severely tested by the COVID-19 emergency. We have reduced domestic consumption by -20% (-17.8%) and international sales (-20.1%) by averaging sales of our related companies, including industrial production (-29.4%) and significant declines. Decreased by one third (-33.1%).

 There has been a drop in sales all through the area, quite often at double-digit rates, on the chief market sectors for our items, with a - 18.1% drop in the trade balance. The main timid signs of a re-visitation of 'ordinariness' popular, on both the global and homegrown market sectors (in September, both exports and household spending in Italy equaled volumes for the same month in 2019)) could be promptly destroyed constantly wave of the pandemic, with serious repercussions for the business' capacity to wait, bringing about a further decrease in the number of dynamic undertakings (- 101 in the initial 9 months) and the number of employees (somewhere near around 2 600) in 2020. If component manufacturers are taken into account, the balance is even more negative: -231 companies and -3453 employees. The year used a record of wage support (+ 930% in the first 10 months of the year in the leather industry, including + 1267% in October). We are very concerned about the next few months, "explained Siro Badon, president of Assocalzaturifici.

Further details

 According to the Fashion Consumers panel at Sita Ricerca’s of Assocalzaturifici, the most affected market segments were men's and women's "classic" shoes (with a reduction of about 30%), while children's footwear sales fell and sports shoes/sneakers were between -15 and -20%. As mentioned above, the decline was less sharp in the footwear and lounge footwear segment, which saw a 7.4% decline in sold pairs and a 6.8% decline in spending.

 Despite the boom in online sales, 2020 represents a low point for footwear purchases in Italy, partly due to the absence of international tourism and the resulting sales, especially in luxury footwear.

 Exports, which have always been the first point of sale in the footwear sector, declined by 20.1% in terms of volume and 17.2% in terms of value in the first 9 months of the year. A total of 127.1 million pair of shoes, including authentic product marketing was sold abroad between January and September (about 32 million less than the same period in 2019), with an average price increase of 3.6% for a total value of 6.4 billion euros.

 

Exports within the EU (representing 65% of the total amount) dropped by 16.5% as far as volume (somewhere around 14.5% in worth) in the initial 9 months of 2020. The drop in fares to France surpassed 20%, as far as both amount and worth; the drop in fares was less steep on account of Germany (14% fewer matches, which anyway followed upon a - 8.4% drop in 2019), the Netherlands (somewhere around 12%, speaking to - 2.6% by worth) and Belgium (- 13.4%). Non-EU objections (which dropped by about - 26% in general as far as amount, very nearly ten rate focuses more than the drop in deals inside the EU, and - 19.3% by esteem) saw a drop of 30% in fares to North America. In the Far East (which was on the whole down by23.3% in terms of quantity), the reduction was significant in all the principal markets (China -20%, Hong Kong -35%, and Japan -25% in terms of volume), the sole exception being South Korea (up 16% in terms of value, despite a -6.8% drop in the number of pairs sold). China displayed a certain dynamism in the third quarter (+16.8% by value). The CIS countries also performed poorly (with Russia dropping -25% by volume), as did the Middle East (-20.5%). The reduction in exports to Switzerland (-16.4% by the quantity and -9% by value), a traditional logistics and distribution hub for major luxury multinationals, was not as bad, thanks to a recovery in the third quarter (+6% in terms of a number of pairs, +10% in value). Sales to the United Kingdom are in fact down -29% by quantity, -23% in terms of value.

 AUTHOR-M. ZAMAN(RASEL).