There is a supply chain in Italy which in the last 10 years, net of Covid, has been able to improve its exports more than the entire manufacturing sector of the country has done: it is the leather supply chain, i.e. the leather goods and footwear: shoes, bags, accessories that still represent Made in Italy to the point of confirming our country as the first exporter in Europe and also the third in the world, despite the competition from emerging countries and in particular from China, which in fact is in first place ahead of Vietnam. However, the data collected by the Intesa Sanpaolo Study Center, set for the end of 2019, also demonstrate that compared to China, Italy has only the fifth largest import quota in the world (less than France), which demonstrates that our hides, which represent more than 10% of the global market (twice that of France) are also champions of trade balance.
In fact, total Italian exports of leather goods and footwear in 2019 amounted to 23,7 billion euros and imports to 10,6 billion euros, for a total trade surplus of 13,1 billion euros. Among the advanced countries, the Italian leather supply chain is the only one to produce a positive trade balance. Among other things, 2019 represented the tenth year of continuous growth for the sector's exports, which reached its maximum peak, and the trend is even better than that of the entire Italian manufacturing sector, with a growth in exports of 72% against 32% between 2008 and 2019. The main outlet markets for shoes and bags produced in our various districts of excellence, located above all between Tuscany, Veneto and Marche, are Switzerland, France, China, the United States and Germany, all growing strongly even individually compared to 2008. Exports to France doubled to almost 3 billion euros a year, that to Switzerland more than quadrupled to over 5 billion.
The main countries from which Italy buys leather products or footwear (finished or semi-finished) are China, France, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. Net of the pandemic, which has certainly put the Fashion System and therefore also the leathers in difficulty, it is therefore evident according to Intesa Sanpaolo that, in a scenario dominated by China and Vietnam and in which numerous other Asian countries are climbing the rankings as main exporters (Indonesia and Cambodia in the lead), Italy is managed to keep its leadership position almost unchanged. The secret, as also happens in other manufacturing sectors, lies in the strength of the districts, which stand out for their know-how and ability to maintain production and attract foreign investment, leveraging high quality, innovation and international recognition of Made in Italy. In fact, Italy is synonymous with volumes but above all with quality: exports are more than 51% of the high range, 36% of the medium range and only 13% of the low range.
The state of health will have to be verified after Covid and it would be important to confirm this given that the leather supply chain is in which 15.983 companies operate which employ 145.196 workers (of which 68.621 in leather goods and 76.577 in the manufacture of footwear) and produce a total turnover of over 29 billion euros (Istat data 2018). Compared to company size, the workers in the sector are distributed as follows: 43% in small companies, 25% in medium-sized companies, 24% in micro-enterprises and only the remaining 7,3% in large companies. There are seven Regions in which 96% of workers are concentrated: Tuscany, which alone is worth a third of employment and exports, followed by Veneto, Marche, Campania, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia. Among footwear, tanning and leather goods, the most important districts are Lamporecchio (Pistoia), Lucca, Santa Croce sull'Arno, Arezzo, Florence, Montebelluna, Verona, Brenta, Arzignano (Vicenza), Fermo, Tolentino, and then Naples, Avellino, Forlì -Cesena and north of Bari plus Casarano.
