MILAN — As China‘s economic and real estate slowdown persists, Chinese consumers’ appetite for European goods continues to wane.
Italy’s wood supply chain consortium FederlegnoArredo, which represents the interests of the majority of Italian luxury furniture firms, said the declining appetite for foreign luxury goods in China, in addition to tariff pressures, has been among the furniture sector’s top challenges this year.
On Friday, FederlegnoArredo president Claudio Feltrin said exports to China in the first nine months of the year slid 9.9 percent to a total value of 320 million euros. His statements were published on Friday, during the release of the second Milan Design (Eco) System report by design trade show organizers Salone del Mobile.Milano and the Department of Design of Milan’s Politecnico University.
Overall, the first nine months of 2025 showed that exports in the supply chain remained largely stable, amounting to 14.2 billion euros, up 0.4 percent year-on-year. Within Italy’s top 10 markets, the decline in exports to China was followed by a 1.6 percent fall in exports to the U.S. with a total value of 1.5 billion euros.
Exports to France recorded a 1.7 percent decline with a total value of 2.2 billion euros. Exports of Italian furniture to Germany rose 0.8 percent.
“The overall variation is the result of an attempt, during the early months of the year, to ‘stay ahead of the game’ with regard to the introduction of tariffs,” Feltrin said.
According to the Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study by Bain & Company and Altagamma released in November, spending in China is set to contract by between 3 and 5 percent this year at constant exchange rates.
Molteni&C’s Shanghai store.
Jonathan Leijonhufvud
In response to economic pressures like President Donald Trump’s U.S. trade policy that capped duties at 15 percent on European goods to the U.S., Feltrin has said that the European Union needs to swiftly approve a trade deal with the Mercosur trade bloc.
Leaders here have been banking on a reprieve that hinges on the swift approval of a crucial European Union deal with Mercosur, the South American bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. This deal, for which talks commenced in 1999, could potentially create the world’s biggest free-trade area.
Brazil, which is by far the biggest Mercosur nation with a population of about 213 million, is ripe for luxury expansion. The nation is currently highly protected with an applied customs duty averaging 13.5 percent, according to the European Commission.
In total, Italy exported 73.6 million euros of fashion accessories to Brazil in 2024. In the first five months of 2025, levels totaled 32 million euros.
Though Italy and France have sought to delay the deal due to concerns about the impact on the agricultural sector, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to arrive in Brazil on Saturday to sign the agreement.
