MILAN, Aug 12 (Reuters) - A surge in demand for gold from inflation-stricken Turkey boosted exports of jewellery from Italy's industrial district of Arezzo in Tuscany, data showed on Monday, offsetting a drop in leather goods sales from the nearby Florence area.
Demand from Turkey, where inflation was running at 61.8% in July, drove jewellery exports from the Arezzo area up 133% in the first quarter of the year versus 2023, an Intesa Sanpaolo report on Italy's industrial districts showed.
Exports from the other two Italian jewellery districts, the northeastern Vicenza area and Valenza Po, in Piedmont, also rose.
Gold is considered a hedge against higher inflation and a safe store of value in times of uncertainty.
Exports from the Arezzo jewellery district totalled 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) in the first quarter, from 800 million a year before, Intesa said.
That is welcome news for the Tuscan economy, which has been hit hard by the global slowdown in luxury goods demand, with exports of leather goods from the Florence district down 23% in the first quarter to 1.35 billion euros.
Tuscany is home to hundreds of small suppliers of the luxury goods industry and a cooling in demand led by China, which has dealt a blow to brands like Kering's (PRTP.PA), Gucci, prompted companies to put thousands of local workers on furlough.
"Districts that supply the fashion industry have suffered from a drop in consumer spending, but also a normalisation of stock levels after two years of strong increase, and the reorganisation of logistics by distributors," the report said.
Meanwhile, Tuscan olive oil exports jumped 72% year-on-year to 382 million euros in the first quarter.
Overall, exports from Italy's industrial districts - small hyper-specialised production areas - fell 1.1%, Intesa said, adding slowing world trade had been driving a decline since spring 2023 - though from high levels.
The districts' exports hit a record high in 2022 above 150 billion euros and remained broadly stable in 2023. Exports are above pre-pandemic levels by nearly 20% overall.
The only exception are intermediate goods exports in the fashion industry which are 10% lower than in the first quarter of 2019.
($1 = 0.9152 euros)
Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise
