Vicenzaoro Highlights, September 2024: Data Rewards Resilience

Let’s talk about export. Made in Italy and the gold and jewelry sector in general is still growing even in an uncertain international geopolitical situation. Looking more closely at the data processed by Confindustria Federorafi’s Study Centre based on ISTAT data, in the first five months of 2024, the gold, silver and jewelry sector on the international markets is witnessing a continuation of the trends seen in the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. Growth in exports is still very high, supported not only by rising precious metal prices, but also by the performance of Turkey, which recorded an increase of +59.2%, totaling 6,934.3 million euros. In the first five months of 2024, the sector's trade balance was therefore equal to 6,003 million euros, an increase of +83.4% (i.e. 2,729 million more) compared to the surplus recorded in the corresponding period of 2023. Italian exports to Turkey over the five-month period increased by +721.3%(attributable to wearable jewelry), accounting for 37.9% of sectoral exports for that period. The evolution in Turkey can be attributed to several reasons: from the search for new routes due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, to the increase in customs duties/local taxation on gold (raw material) that has encouraged Turkish operators to import semi-finished or finished products, as confirmed by the analyses of the World Gold Council. In Vicenza, in the Expo Centre of Europe's most important international trade show, the scenario during the days of the show has been animated by a public of buyers from all over the world. On the offer front, 35 countries are represented among the 1,200 exhibiting compa- nies, 40% of which come from abroad. The audiences at the numerous talks held in the Educational Hub and at the Palladio Theater - especially the four seminars organized by CIBJO on Sunday - also spoke to insiders, media and global opinion leaders, in an atmosphere of networking that continued even in outside the show. An example of this was the cocktail party held on Friday evening in Piazza dei Signori, attended by hundreds of Italian Exhibition Group’s invited guests: a perfect inaugural moment in which to also enjoy the artistic beauty of the city of Vicenza, the setting for the now customary Vioff – the Vicenza Off Show event.