"Our industry is responding well. Sadly, these signs of cautious optimism are being overshadowed by concerns over costs' increments and we fear a new step backwards in China's market due to the worsening of the health situation. We hope we will be able to work extensively with the government on industrial policies to avoid returning to the past and enact all concrete actions to support the system. We can't afford to slowdown or, even worse, having the positive trend of 2022 stopped", commented the president of the Leather Goods Manufacturer Association (Assopellettieri), Franco Gabbrielli.

According to the data provided by the Centro Studi Confindustria Moda for Assopellettieri, in the first nine months of 2022, leather goods production was up by 9.2% and revenue by 14.7%, as compared to the same period of last year.

Domestic consumption in the segment grew as well by 8.6%, with exports increasing declining in volume by 3.2% and increasing in value by 15.7%, despite the slowdown recorded in the third quarter, year-over-year; the data shows that exports in volume decreased by 12% in the third quarter alone. The average sale price was also up by 20%, on a comparable basis to the same period of 2021.

Looking into main foreign markets, the Italian leather goods' performance from January to September 2022, was noteworthy in France (up by 31% in value), the US (up by 54.5%), in South Korea (up by 38.6%), and the UAE (up by 74%). In China, the industry recorded an increase in value by 12.8%, but a decline of 13% in volume in this period, as compared to the first three quarters of the prior year. Performances in Russia and Ukraine naturally suffered the most, with exports falling year-over-year by 22.8% and 53%, respectively, in these months.