A decidedly positive picture emerged for 2022 from the Report on the Italian Gold Sector by “Club degli Orafi Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo”. The turnover is set to grow by 22,1 percent, reinforcing the important rebound accrued in 2021 (+55.3 percent). Good positioning in international markets supported these results with jewelry exports exceeding 9 billion euros in 2022, fully recovering pre-Covid levels in both value (+41%) and quantity (+5%). Among the different markets, the United States is confirmed with 1,5 billion euros as the leading market (+12% in 2022), also supported by the strengthening of the dollar; followed by exports to Switzerland (1,3 billion euros; +21%) and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to official statistics, the report also shows the results of the third edition of the survey conducted in December 2022 with the involvement of leading companies in the sector and developed by the Goldsmiths’ Club with the Intesa Sanpaolo Research and Studies Department. For the current year, expectations for turnover see more caution from operators, but for the larger firms a majority of positive sentiment prevails for both the domestic and international markets. The issue of greatest concern to operators is the difficulty in finding labor, which is cited by more than half of the sample (51 percent) as a critical issue, with increases in raw material prices weighing more heavily. The paper confirms how the sector has shown great competitiveness in the last two years, the result of a long process of selection and upgrading of supply that has led Italy to become the main production hub for high-end jewelry. It will be crucial for the companies support this path with targeted investments toward the factors that enable the sector’s development such as human capital, process efficiency and innovation
Augusto Ungarelli, past president Club degli Orafi Italia and Delegate for the Study Center commented: «For the Italian jewelry sector, the figures at the end of 2022 are confirmed to be decidedly positive, with turnover reaching the extraordinary quota of 13,2 billion euros, 70 percent of which is destined for exports, corroborating what was predicted by the rapid economic survey conducted by the Club degli Orafi Italia in December 2022. What emerges is a picture of a sector that, despite the many critical issues at hand, continues to grow in its prominent position in the national economic system. Italian Companies in 2022 have been able to strengthen their role as leading suppliers of quality for international luxury and jewelry realities. Of the critical issues with which the sector-and manufacturing in general-is confronted on a daily basis, such as the cost of raw materials, the complex geopolitical situation, and the rise in the price of gold, the one that continues to cause the greatest concern is the difficulty in finding human capital, training it, and inserting it into a production system that is constantly evolving and with an ever-increasing generational turnover. This is one of the issues on which the Goldsmiths’ Club Italy has been paying the most attention for some time, believing that in order to guarantee and sustain the pace of growth-which has now become structural-action must be taken at all levels to make the gold and jewelry world more attractive to young people. The Companies in the sector are realities that guarantee secure and long-term employment positions, with continuous training and welfare of great interest, conditions these able to give an answer to the needs both of those who are about to enter the labor market and do not yet have specific skills, and of those who have already approached the fascinating world of artistic craftsmanship and creativity, and want to make it their profession».
Stefania Trenti, head of Industry Research, Intesa Sanpaolo Studies and Research Department, added during the press conference: «These results are to be seen in a highly challenging competitive environment conditioned by inflationary pressures, restrictive monetary policies and high uncertainty and complexity. The sector’s positioning toward the high-end, which sees Italy as the main production hub for luxury jewelry, has been an important strategic lever to establish itself in this context: it will be crucial for companies to sustain this path with targeted investments toward the factors that enable the sector’s development such as human capital, process efficiency and innovation».
