“The American tariffs have indeed hit our furniture exports to the United States with double-digit drops – he declares Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo – but the entire wood supply chain is holding up and I believe that the end-of-year summary could be reduced to a single-digit decline”. The overall picture is further aggravated by the -21% of total exports, with year-round reductions in the wood-furniture sector of up to 8%.
So, Mr. President, has this been a bad year for the sector?
"The impact of tariffs is causing us great concern. Specifically, the most recent export data is for the period January-August 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, which shows a -0,2% decrease; while the change for August 2025 compared to the same month in 2024 is 4,7%. In this period, the value of the supply chain's exports is equal to 12,7 billion euros."
But at the beginning of the year, didn't it seem like orders from the US were accelerating?
"Yes, but then there was a collapse. If we look at the European data for the January-August period and take into account the top 10 Italian export players, the trend is negative for all European countries, with the exception of England, which recorded +4,2%, and Spain, which remained positive at +1%.
Any previews of both the 2025 and 2026 closings?
"One factor that 2025 and 2026 have in common is great uncertainty. This is especially true for the supply chain's exports, which are expected to close this year at around -5%. As for next year, we're just navigating the situation by sight and hoping for a recovery, especially in the second half of the year."
President Trump has declared that thanks to tariffs on furniture and tools imports, American companies will return to manufacturing in America, and he specifically cited the furniture districts destroyed by offshoring. What do you think? Is this reshoring happening?
"But no, it's impossible to rebuild an industrial supply chain in the short term. It would take at least ten years. Just think about the investments an entrepreneur would have to make in the United States to open a factory that, among other things, would produce furniture that would be much more expensive than imported ones. Not to mention that he would have to make a considerable investment, with the risk—a real one under this administration—that if the tariffs were eliminated, everything would go back to how it was before, with once again floods of furniture and components from Vietnam and China, which were the targeted targets of the tariff increases."
According to some members of the Meloni government, Italian entrepreneurs could and can find new markets to compensate, such as China, which has proven very open to Made in Italy products. How did that go?
"And it's China that worries us the most, first of all because we're seeing a 10,9 percent drop in exports, and secondly because the real estate crisis continues, in addition to the fact that the government is promoting exports with significant funding."
In many European manufacturing sectors, the massive invasion of Chinese surpluses is increasingly pressing. Is furniture an exception?
"Not anymore. In fact, Chinese furniture arrivals in Europe are increasing because manufacturers have quickly learned the lesson of quality design from Europeans and trade fairs. The European market is too permeable. And I agree with what Mario Draghi recently wrote and recommended, namely, that the EU's bureaucracy is becoming unsustainable."
In this regard, European industry, and Italian industry in particular, have called on Brussels for a comprehensive review of the EUDR regulation against deforestation due to the extreme difficulties of implementation. Where are we now?
The Union listened to us, but if it hadn't, it would have been a devastating own goal for European industry. In addition to granting delays, the Commission declared its openness to improvements and simplifications. As drafted, the regulation was unworkable and unsustainable, especially for small and medium-sized Italian businesses in our sector.
Is there any news regarding markets other than the traditional ones that are at a standstill?
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, we presented the 'Red in Progress Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh' initiative, which laid the foundation for a close cultural collaboration and a B2B platform that will bring design and the Salone to this country. We had been working on it together with the Salone for two years, but the government helped us accelerate the finalization of the agreement. It was an excellent example of collaboration between private industry and institutions, with three Saudi Arabian ministers attending the inaugural days dedicated to our initiative in November.
North Africa and Arabia are showing very interesting growth for Italian-made wood and furniture, especially in countries like Morocco...
"Certainly, Morocco's growth in purchases of Italian-made goods has been significant, over 48 percent, a percentage that, however, equates to 38 million euros. Much more impressive is the growth in England, at 4,2 percent, but this figure equates to 33 million euros because it was based on a more substantial basis."
The appliance bonus has yielded positive results, more than expected. Could it be useful in the furniture and woodworking sector?
"No, after what happened with the 110 service, which created a distorting effect and its mismanagement, I don't think it should be considered. Fortunately, the furniture incentive has been renewed for 2026 as well."
There's no doubt that any measure to support and promote an economic sector, from tariffs to incentives, should be developed in close collaboration with the relevant business associations. This hasn't happened in the United States, where Trump's tariff hike, in addition to inflation and emptying store shelves, is also causing another negative effect. That is, many American entrepreneurs have moved production to Canada, where raw materials are more affordable, labor is available, technicians are available, and components and semi-finished products arrive from Asia without tariffs.
