Source: president's official spokesman – Media Relations of Treviso Chamber of Commerce

Veneto exports suffered a 20% decrease during the first six months of 2009 compared to the previous year.
Treviso marked -17%, a little better than the regional average.

In absolute values, Treviso area exported € 4.3 billion worth of goods, that is, € 891 million less than one year ago.
According to predictable figures, the provincial performance approached the regional average during the period April to June.

As for imports, Treviso registered a 17.2% decrease compared to one year ago, while Veneto experienced a 20.1% slump. Imports reached the amount of € 2.3 billion.

Treviso maintains its positive trade balance, with € 1.973 billion, though decreasing by € 410 million as against one year ago.

Treviso performance: figures by product category

The overall data for Treviso were influenced by the performance of the main specialised manufacturing activity in the territory – machinery: a € 229 million decrease, equal to -23.5%, from € 976 million in June 2008 to € 747 million in June 2009. Results were badly influenced by a drop in investments in capital goods during the current period.

Figures from non-traditional markets must be underlined: +18.9% in the Chinese market – which indirectly confirms its driving role within the world economy –, +34.4% in Poland, +53.8% in Egypt and +10.2% in India.
Imports of this product category in Treviso marked a decrease as well (-34.8%).

The category of furniture registered a 14.1% drop, equal to € 96 million (from 682 to 586 million).

Footwear seems to better sustain the crisis, decreasing by “only” 5.2% thanks to good results during the first quarter of 2009.
Total footwear exports from Treviso amounted to over € 441 million, the 10.3% of total provincial exports.

Other sectors of the fashion system: the clothing industry -19%, yarns and fabrics -15.5%, knitwear -32.7%.
As for clothing, the main imported item in Treviso, a slowdown has been registered in supplies from foreign markets (-6.3%). China still remains a significant exception: the 30% of imported clothing in Treviso comes from the Chinese market, which marked a 17% increase compared to mid-2008.

Household appliances also registered difficulties, with a 23.9% decline.

Increases, on the other hand, have been detected in food products (+5.4%) and beverages (+0.6%).

Although representing a limited amount of total provincial exports (1.6%), jewellery is on the rise too: +15.7%, against the market trend of Vicenza, the centre of jewellery manufacturing in Veneto.

Main target markets of Treviso manufacturing output

Germany confirms itself as the main purchaser of Treviso manufacturing products: it imports over € 643 million worth of goods, even though less than one year ago (-14.1%).

Flows towards France decreased by 8.3%, followed by Spain and the UK.

Mr. FEDERICO TESSARI, PRESIDENT OF TREVISO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Remark

“Treviso exports were badly influenced by the drop in international demand, above all during the first period of this year. No evidence was found of significant differences between countries of the EU-27 and non European countries, since the 17.2% decrease is common to all of them.
The “below zero performance” is a common feature of almost all the first thirty trade partners of this area, but there are three exceptions: China +37.8% (ranked 12th), Saudi Arabia +11.1% (26th) and Egypt +21.3% (30th).
In spite of this global downturn, the trade balance in Treviso maintains its positive trend at nearly € 2 billion and experienced an increase of its percentage weight on total regional exports: from 22.2% in June 2008 to 23% in June 2009.
Signs are still weak but somehow they indicate that the worst period is coming to an end.”