After an extraordinary '95 the market shows signs of a go-slow, due to both decline in
consuption and less competitivity in exports
"With work costs greatly superior to
those of competitive countries (double
those of Spain, Portugal and Greece,
three-four times as much as Hong
Kong and Taěwan. ten times more than
East Europe?) tax burdens that have no
equal in Europe and are among the
heaviest in the world, Italian leather
goods, the gems of our artisan and
creative tradition, must face an aggressive
market from a weak position.
This is the cry of alarm launched by
Nino Rossi, president of Aimpes, at the
conference to open the 70th Mipel, the
international leather goods fair held in
Milan from 19 to 22 September. While
Italy's power to compete on foreign
markets is weakened, national consumers
opt for imported goods and those
on market stalls. The sector's preoccupation
is now to see increased relocation
of produetion, with the obvious
effects on Italian employment levels
and possible damage to its image,
which is always founded on product
quality and workmanship. The "strong"
lira. the slump in domestic and international
consumption brought up once
again, at Mipel, the questions of relocating
production and of work costs.
Italian manufacturers seem much more
worried about these things than in the
past. even though the phenomenon is
still limited in this sector. but with a
tendency to increase. We talked with
the president of Consorzio Italian
Export, Carol Leoni. "Our consortium
is composed of small artisan firms, for
which the situation has become difficult
- explains Ms Leoni - On one hand
great efforts are made in terms of creativity,
only to find perfect copies on the
market at a third of the price, imported
from China, on the other the Chambers
of Commerce themselves suggest
moving manufacture abroad to lower
production costs. Well, we rebel again-
st this with all our strength. Our visi-
ting card has always been "Made in
Italy", representing the real tradition of
Italian craftsmanship. Unfortunately,
there is a total lack of a defence policy
for this productive heritage". Of the
same opinion is the Bassini firm, best
known for the EI Campero brand that
signifies three thousand belts, two
thousand key-rings and 700 bags a
day, using sixty percent of its produc-
tion capacity. "One can't take these
work costs any more - explodes Giano
Bassini - In view of a market where the
intermediary range gets increasingly
from ARPEL n.130
