Observatory | Federorafi – Italian jewellery: international by vocation

Interview with Stefano De Pascale, Director of Federorafi. Targeted strategic actions are strengthening the Italian sector on the world scenarios: +15% in the USA.

The turnover is of 8 billion euro, a figure that, for the most part – 80% approximately – has matured on the international markets. And, even if 2017 is closing with a slowdown in the business compared with the bright first quarter of the year, it is important to underline that the best news comes from the USA, where a 15% increase has been registered. On the other hand, we can observe a decrease concerning the United Arab Emirates, North Africa and China; these markets had been first on the list for about ten years with respect to Italian jewellery.

190 companies are doing business with the USA for the first time

The Director of Federorafi, Stefano De Pascale, has drawn a picture of the situation, though not conclusive yet; we are still waiting for the survey data of the very last part of the year. “The American market is offering interesting prospects for 2018”, claims our manager, highlighting the fact that the positive overseas trend results from specific targeted and strategic actions put in place by the Association of industrialists in cooperation with the Ministry for Economic Development and with the ICE. Among these, “an agreement with some of the large distribution chains, formulated in such a way as to be convenient for both contractors, the supplier/importer and the reseller”. One consequence of such a policy is that “in just two years 190 companies have been involved in business with an American partner for the first time”.

Coaching is a must

As for the measures meant to support this sector, a significant role is played by those training actions addressed to the companies of the four Italian gold districts; such actions aim at “structuring the internationalization process and preventing it from giving rise to individual export operations”, concludes Stefano De Pascale.

Small and lively the companies form part of this sector in Italy

As a matter of fact, the jewellery sector of the “Bel Paese” comprises 9 thousand companies, employing 45 thousand operators. This means that, on average, these companies are small-sized, with 5 employees approximately, who require support policies to consolidate their position abroad. There is still a great number of sales points spread across the country: 18 to 20 thousand jewelry stores are active. Far more than France, for example, with its 6 thousand sales points.