Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** Italy’s gold jewelry exports fell 17% in Q1 2026, but the headline masks a nuanced reality. Adjusting for normalized flows to Turkey, the sector is actually growing. Made in Italy remains a global powerhouse, with Arezzo leading nationally at €721 million in exports.
Italy retains its European leadership. Arezzo maintains its national leadership with €721 million in exports.
Jul 09, Industry, News – by Preziosa Magazine
The first quarter of 2026 marks a decline in Italian gold jewelry exports, but the data is heavily influenced by the normalization of flows to Turkey. Excluding this market, exports return to growth. Switzerland, the United States, and Hong Kong lead the new geography of international trade, while the record price of gold profoundly alters the balance of global demand.
The figure is bound to attract attention: in the first quarter of 2026, Italian gold jewelry exports stood at €2.4 billion, recording a 17% contraction in value compared to the same period in 2025. A superficial reading might suggest an industry in difficulty. In reality, looking at the numbers as a whole, a very different picture emerges. The analysis by the Research Department of Intesa Sanpaolo highlights that the decline is almost entirely attributable to the progressive normalization of trade flows to Turkey, a market that in recent years had taken on exceptional characteristics. Excluding this component, Italian exports would actually return to positive territory, with growth of 7% in value and 18% in quantity. This tells the story of an industry capable of rapidly adapting to changes in the international landscape, compensating for the slowdown in some markets by strengthening its presence in new strategic areas.
In gold jewelry, Italy leads ahead of France, which exported approximately €1.9 billion in the same period. Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands also recorded positive results, confirming that international jewelry trade is not experiencing a generalized contraction, but rather a profound redefinition of its geographies.
The key to interpretation therefore remains Turkey. In the last two years, the country had sustained extraordinary import volumes, driven by internal monetary tensions and the sourcing strategies of the local industry. It was clear that those levels could not represent a new normal. The gradual return to more physiological values now produces inevitably penalizing statistical comparisons, which risk distorting the perception of the entire sector’s health. Already in analyses related to 2025, Intesa Sanpaolo had emphasized that the downsizing of the Turkish market was the main element behind the decline in Italian exports. The Q1 2026 data thus confirms a phenomenon expected by operators.
While some markets slow down, others show surprising vitality. Switzerland returns to being the top destination market for Italian goldsmithing with €515 million in exports, growing 54% in value and 118% in quantity. It is followed by the United States, which consolidates its strategic role with a 16% increase, while France (+22%), Ireland (+27%), Hong Kong (+21%), and the Netherlands (+49%) confirm particularly dynamic demand.
The growth of Switzerland, however, deserves further reflection. It does not exclusively represent an increase in domestic demand, but also reflects the country’s increasingly central role as an international luxury platform. Many Italian exports are in fact destined for the logistics and production hubs of major jewelry and watchmaking groups, to be subsequently redistributed to other markets. This phenomenon testifies to the growing level of integration of international supply chains and contributes to redrawing the maps of European exports.
The only significant setback concerns the United Arab Emirates, where exports decreased by 35%. In this case, the slowdown appears closely linked to the geopolitical tensions affecting the Middle East and the conflict between Iran and the United States, which has inevitably impacted the activity of one of the world’s main hubs for jewelry trade.
At the same time, the industry continues to grapple with another factor destined to profoundly affect corporate strategies: the price of gold. In the first quarter of 2026, the average quotation reached approximately €4,163 per ounce, setting new historical highs. This growth is fueled by geopolitical uncertainty, central bank purchases, and investors’ search for safe-haven assets.
The surge in quotations is also changing consumer behavior. According to international data, global demand for gold jewelry stood at 300 tons, a 23% reduction compared to the first three months of 2025. This is the lowest level recorded since the pandemic period. At the same time, however, the economic value of demand increased by 31%, reaching $47 billion, a new historical record for a first quarter. The market, therefore, buys fewer jewelry pieces, but at much higher values. This phenomenon pushes companies to increasingly focus on creative content, manufacturing, and positioning in premium segments, where the price of raw materials has a relatively smaller impact on the final product value.
Territorial analysis confirms that different Italian districts are facing this phase with different dynamics. Arezzo maintains its national leadership with €721 million in exports, but records a 49% contraction.