For small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in Sardinia, 2022 closed with 475 million euros in sales abroad , with a growth of 7% compared to 2021.
This is what emerges from the analysis of the Istat data carried out by the Study Office of Confartigianato Imprese in the dossier "Made in Italy trend on the MPI sectors: Sardinian exports in 2022".
«The data confirm how the exports of Sardinian manufacturing SMEs go beyond the conflict in Ukraine, the post-Covid period, the restrictions and difficulties that companies have been experiencing for more than 3 years - comments the president of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna, Maria Amelia Lai - but this is certainly not sufficient for the "push" to the regional economic system to be lasting . We need to finance missions abroad, innovative initiatives to accompany handicrafts and small businesses on international markets, as well as strong government action to control the price of energy and find a solution to the soaring cost of raw materials and the their scarcity".
The surveys confirm the growth trend except for the metal products sector which, due to the lack of material, suffered a heavy setback.
Among the categories of goods that found buyers abroad in the year just ended are food with 205 million (+14.9% compared to 2020), products in the fashion sector with 19 million (+5.2%) , wood-furniture with 24 million (+5.1%) and other products with 14 million (+2.9%). Vertical collapse for the metal industry which exported 213 million but suffered a contraction of 41.6% due to the non-arrival of raw materials or semi-finished products from abroad.
Among the provinces, again in 2022, products worth 210 million euros left from Cagliari (including 18 food, 11 fashion, 169 metal and 12 miscellaneous). From Southern Sardinia 51 million (10 food, 40 metals and 1 miscellaneous). From Northern Sardinia 141 million (106 food, 7 fashion, 4 metals, 22 furnishings and 2 miscellaneous). From Oristano 45 million (44 food, 1 metal and 1 furniture). Closes Nuoro which has placed 28 million goods (26 food, 1 metal and 1 furniture).
«If we now find ourselves commenting on very positive numbers it is because companies have struggled to fight against an extreme situation - continues Lai - in any case it is necessary to intervene at a national level because companies are very worried because they cannot see the end of these serious problems ».
"To keep pace, it is therefore necessary to recalibrate the policies to support the production system to respond to the situation of high uncertainty caused by the resurgence of the pandemic, by the strong growth in energy costs and by the constant difficulty in procuring raw materials - continues the President - it is essential to encourage companies' access to credit and support them in their need for liquidity". Confartigianato Sardegna recalls that, according to the latest data available for 2021, there are only 633 Sardinian companies that have placed their products abroad. Just , ranking Sardinia in fourth last place in Italy among the exporting regions. «Unfortunately, the Sardinian companies that have embarked on the export route are still too few - underlines Daniele Serra, Regional Secretary of Confartigianato - and the numbers place the island at the bottom of the national ranking. We hope that the entrepreneurial system and the institutions work together to increase the number of companies that want to focus on foreign markets and increase their turnover".