24% rise in jewellery exports
Italy in top 3 jewellery suppliers
Overall exports to UAE at record high
Italian exports of jewellery to the UAE grew 24 percent in February over the same month last year, reaching €238 million ($268 million), according to the Italian Trade Agency (ITA).
With overall sales of more than €1.22 billion in 2024, up 12 percent year-on-year, Italy remains the world’s third-largest supplier of jewellery to the Emirates, and the number one exporter from Europe, ITA said.
India and Turkey typically hold the first and second spot globally for jewellery exports to the UAE.
“Jewellery remains our top export category to the country and is a clear reflection of the region’s continued demand for Italian quality and creativity,” Italian trade commissioner to the UAE Valerio Soldani said in a statement on the occasion of the 55th Watch & Jewellery Middle East Show taking place in Sharjah.
The upward trendline in the jewellery sector reflects increased Italian exports to the UAE, which grew by nearly a fifth last year to hit an all-time record of nearly €8 billion.
Italian fashion-industry sales to the Emirates experienced especially rapid growth last year at 35 percent, settling around €1 billion, according to ITA figures.
Exports of furniture and other design products rose 23 percent from 2023 to 2024 to reach €367 million.
Total bilateral trade between Italy and the UAE hit €10 billion last year, with a trade surplus of €5.8 billion for Italy as Italian imports of Emirati products fell some 6.5 percent on an annual basis.
In an interview with CNN Business Soldani said Italy’s reputation for luxury and style, and rising jewellery, clothing and furniture exports, should not “overshadow” Italian companies’ delivery to the UAE of industrial tech and machinery, which in the aggregate reached €1.5 billion worth of sales in 2024.