Eyewear, in 2022 production over 5 billion (+22%). Cautious optimism for 2023

Listen to the audio version of the article

Exports continue to drive the growth of Italian eyewear. Among the industrialists of the sector, gathered at the Anfao assembly (the Confindustria association that represents them), after the two-digit results of 2022, cautious optimism emerged for this year. The Anfao president, Giovanni Vitaloni, explains that «considering the general context, it is very probable that the continuation of 2023 will be less brilliant for our exports, although, also taking advantage of the weakness of the euro, it will still be able to grow in value. In fact, we are receiving a less positive sentiment from our companies than orders in general. The central issue of this slowdown is mainly attributable to the generalized increase in costs that companies are no longer able to absorb internally”.

The growth of 2022

An analysis of the 2022 data revealed that Italian eyewear achieved brilliant results on international markets, but inflationary tensions and uncertainty weighed on the domestic market and on margins. However, Italian production exceeded 5 billion (5.08) euros, with an increase of 22% compared to 2021. Exports of frames, sunglasses and lenses, which absorb around 90% of the sector’s production, they grew by 21% compared to 2021, reaching 4.88 billion euros. If the total balance of producers fell by around 2 percentage points, settling at 830 companies nationwide, the employment perimeters of the sector remained substantially stable compared to 2021 with 18,250 employees.

The first quarter of 2023

In the first quarter of 2023, exports of the sector still show a double-digit variation compared to the first quarter of 2022: +16.7% in value to 1 billion and 388 million. The best performance is the one observed for frames (+20.4%), but also exports of sunglasses have not lost the momentum of 2022 (+15.9%). As for the geographical areas, Europe grew by 15.1%, America by 10.9%, and Asia +39.1%. Currently, the forecast for the first half of 2023 is for export growth of around 8% compared to the same period of 2022.