For Treviso, the trend is -1.3%. Textiles-clothing and furniture are down, as well as automotive components. Increasing drinks, but the result is conditioned by demand advances for the uncertainty duties. For Belluno the export keeps thanks to machinery and electronics. In decrease the eyewear.
Treviso, 17 June 2025
The comment of President Mario Pozza
“The data just announced by Istat on trade in the first quarter of 2025 do not offer appreciable news compared to the stagnation and uncertainty scenarios already commented with our report on the trend of manufacturing – comments Mario Pozza, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Treviso and Belluno|Dolomiti.
In comparison with the first quarter of 2024, there was a slight decrease in exports for Veneto and Treviso: -1.2% for Veneto and -1.3% for Treviso. In Belluno, we can say that the export holds: -0.1% is the trend change, compared to those that had been sales abroad in the first quarter of last year.
For Treviso – continues Pozza – the result is average, on the one hand, a drop in sales especially for textile-clothing and furniture. The export linked to automotive components also continues to decline. Exports of beverages are growing, on the other hand, but the result is presumably also influenced by advances in demand towards the USA: exports of beverages to this market grow by +28.9%. The uncertainty of duties also weighs on machinery. For the first item of export, compared to the first quarter of 2024, sales are slightly down (-1.4%), but if we look at the US market, the drop is -31.7%.
For Belluno to determine the holding of provincial export is not so much the eyewear, which although exports 1 billion goods but in slight decline (-2.1%) compared to the first quarter 2024.
The most dynamic sectors are indeed industrial machinery (+14.7%) and electronics +28.3%), partly attributable to the other important specialization of the cold chain and its control systems in Belluno.
Looking at the growth markets in the first quarter of 2025, there is positive export performance to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico, both for Treviso and Belluno.
The Chamber of Commerce is strongly committed to supporting the competitiveness abroad of our companies, also by encouraging the diversification of markets. – concludes Pozza also in the role of President of Assocamerestero – Just in Treviso was organized a free event that gave the opportunity to discover business opportunities in key sectors such as mechanics, fashion system, hospital supplies, System home in emerging markets such as Vietnam, UAE, Mozambique, Bulgaria, Colombia and New York.
We have now organised a route to the IX PYMES Forum: opportunities for agribusiness, biotech and mechanical engineering sectors in Latin American markets. So I invite you to take the opportunity of the next free online meetings: 25 June Inside Mexico and Panama, 1 July Inside Chile, Peru and Uruguay, 8 July Inside Argentina and Brazil.
From 18 to 21 October, in fact – informs the President Pozza – we will host in Treviso the PYMES Forum, welcoming delegates from 20 countries of Latin America and Central America. During the three days of the event, participants will have the opportunity to visit our companies and take part in B2B and B2C meetings with a particular focus on Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia.
The national and regional framework
According to the data released by ISTAT in recent days, in the first quarter of 2025 the value of national exports increases, on a trend basis, by +3.2%.
Year-on-year growth benefits from the positive performance of the regions in central Italy. In particular, of Tuscany, for the increased sales of pharmaceuticals and metal products and of Lazio, where exports of pharmaceuticals and aircraft, space vehicles and related devices are increasing.
For the regions of the North-East, the slight increase of +1.6% incorporates the brilliant performance of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+26.1%), which benefits from increased sales related to shipbuilding.
Exports from the Veneto region showed a slight decrease (-1.2%). This result reflects on the one hand the decline in exports, mainly of products related to fashion (textiles and clothing, footwear, tanning and leather processing), transport equipment and components and metal carpentry. But the export of the first two regional items (machinery and eyewear) also decreased slightly. Exports of food products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, beverages and jewellery are growing.
The slight decline in regional exports is common to both EU 27 and non-EU 27 sales. But the result averages trends for individual different markets.
The commercial exchange of the province of Treviso
In the first quarter of 2025, Treviso’s exports amounted to more than 3.8 billion euros, slightly below the value of sales recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
With this result the provincial export marks a slight decline on a trend basis of -1.3%; variation that makes average, however, trends for different sectors.
For machinery, the first item of Treviso’s exports, the trend is in line with the provincial trend and discounts a slight decrease of -1.4% compared to the first quarter 2024. The bulk of the decline is driven by the US market: the decrease is -31.7%, which corresponds to sales losses of -21.4 million. Exports to the United Arab Emirates (from 5 million in the first quarter of 2024 to the current 29 million) and to Mexico (from 6.3 million to the current 15.9 million) were more than positive. Exports to the top three intra-EU markets are also positive: Germany (+8.8%), France (+8.1%) and Spain (+8.7%).
For furniture and household appliances, the second and third items of provincial exports respectively, a higher decline is observed than the provincial average. For furniture the decrease is of -5.6% and is determined by the first markets both in the European Union (France mainly, -7.0%; and Germany, -3.5%) and outside the Union (USA, – 6.3%; United Kingdom, -10.6%; and Switzerland, -29.4%). Against the positive trend, in particular, Spain whose sales are growing on a trend basis of +10.4%.
For household appliances, the decline is -3.4% and is mainly due to a reduction in sales to the German (-15.1%) and US markets (-37.9%).
Textiles and clothing are also among the main sectors in decline. The decline of -7.9% is common to most markets, with some exceptions such as Romania, Russia and Turkey: these are markets that see the first quarter’s exports growing on a trend basis.
For means of transport and components, the decrease of -5.1% is mainly due to the German (-10.3%), Austrian (-23.7%) and British (-26.1%) markets. For the metal carpentry the decrease of -12.9% is determined by the lack of sales to the main markets of the European Union: Germany (-37.0%), France (-24.9%) and Romania (-41.6%). The main markets outside EU 27, which overall grew by 24.2% on a trend basis, were in positive contrast.
For food products, the change of -0.9% is due to the decrease in sales mainly to the USA (-33.6%) and the good start of the year of exports to intra-Union markets (+9.0%) and to Germany in particular (+10.3%).
Among the provincial specializations with export growth in the first part of the year, we report drinks (mainly prosecco) increasing by +4.1% on a trend basis. For this product line, sales in the first quarter benefited above all from the brilliant performance towards the United States (+28.9%, a result that also incorporates an advance on demand linked to the uncertainty of duties). Exports to France also increased (+29.9% compared to the first quarter of 2024). In contrast to the negative trend, particularly the Russian market (-71.4%), German (-8.1%) and British (-5.1%).
The positive sign is also shared by the production sectors linked to the Sportsystem. Exports of footwear saw a slight increase of +1.8%, mainly due to the US market (+44.1%), French (+8.7%) and German (+4.9%). For sporting goods, the increase in sales of +13.0% benefits from the positive dynamics of the main markets both within the European Union and outside the EU 27.
Exports are also increasing for rubber and plastic products (+9.4%) The positive result is due to sales to the US, German and Spanish markets.
The breakdown by geoeconomic area shows that the slight decrease in exports is common to both EU 27 (-1.3%) and extra-EU 27 (-1.2%). But different dynamics emerge, however, for individual markets.
Within the European Union, exports are declining for the three main reference partners: Germany, France and Spain.
In particular, for Germany the decline on a trend basis is more moderate than last year: from -12.6% in the first quarter of 2024 to -2.1% in the period under review. Furniture, household appliances, metal carpentry, textiles and clothing, beverages and automotive components sectors in decline. Machinery, footwear, food products and rubber and plastic products sectors in positive reverse.
The French market is also showing a softening of the decline on a trend basis: from -4.3% in the first quarter of 2024 to -1.5% in the current quarter.
The negative sign appears, on the other hand, after periods of growth for Spain: the change is -1.0% compared to the first quarter of last year, driven by lower sales of textile-clothing products, household appliances and agricultural chemicals.
In the first target market outside the EU, the United States, the trend trend of sales is slightly up (+0.7%), with clear effects of advance demand for beverages (+28.9%). But already a decline in machinery, which have a decrease in sales of -31.7% compared to the first quarter 2024.
Exports to the EU27 area also benefit from a more than positive performance towards Turkey (+16.0%), Mexico (+39.6%) and the United Arab Emirates (+70.6%). Exports to Russia were down significantly (-21.1%). Sales to the United Kingdom (-3.7%) and Switzerland (-3.5%) also fell.
In the first quarter of 2025, imports from the province of Treviso amounted to more than 2.3 million euros, up 11.1% compared to the first quarter of 2024.
In Belluno, we can say that the export holds: -0.1% the trend change, compared to those that had been sales abroad in the first quarter of 2024.
In the period under review, the province exported goods worth €1.3 billion, almost in line with the results of a year ago, slightly below those of the first quarter of 2023 (when exports were €1.4 billion).
This strength is not so much determined by the eyewear industry, which exports 1 billion goods but in slight decline (-2.1%) compared to the first quarter of 2024.
The most dynamic sectors are indeed industrial machinery (+14.7%) and electronics (+28.3%), partly attributable to the other important Belluno specialization of the cold chain and its control systems.
These are high variations, which are also affected by the statistical effect of the first quarter and partly due to the advance in demand towards the United States. But there are also growth markets such as Spain. Sales of machinery to Germany are also recovering and exports of electronic products to France and the United Kingdom are also showing positive signs.
The export of textiles and clothing products is also good, the fourth item in Belluno’s exports: +24.4% change compared to the first quarter 2024, which allows foreign sales of this sector to be brought back to the values of the first quarter 2023 (€29 million).
Breaking down the provincial export into the two usual macro-economic aggregates (EU and extra-EU) reveals opposite trends.
In the European market, Belluno’s exports grew by 8.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024, surpassing even the results achieved in the first quarter of 2023. This is due in particular to markets such as Poland and Spain, and significant sales recoveries in Germany.
Overall, exports to non-EU EU 27 markets: -7.8% mainly due to a significant decline in the USA (-29.4%), all conditioned by eyewear.
Looking at the situation two years ago, Belluno’s exports to the USA have fallen by almost 150 million, with a weight on provincial exports that goes from 24% to 14%. A drop which seems difficult to be attributed exclusively to cyclical reasons, and which probably finds its explanation in the restructuring of production on a global scale.
Among the extra-EU 27 markets, the dynamics towards Mexico (+51.6%), Turkey (+11.4%), United Kingdom (+6.8%) stand out positively, remaining the most important ones in terms of export values.
The imports of the province of Belluno amount to almost 373 million, in increase of +15.3% compared to the first quarter 2024.
