This year, things looked bad for the toy industry amid a panorama of international uncertainty and runaway inflation that even brought a drop in exports. However, the situation has started to change in recent months and with the recovery in foreign sales partly due to the depreciation of the euro against the dollar, this is leading to a gradual recovery of the American market as all Forecasts currently point to a decline. Turnover increase at the end of the Christmas campaign. With these perspectives, a new edition of its already traditional guideline was presented this Wednesday by the Technological Children’s and Recreational Products Institute (AIJU), which selects 103 toys for their educational features and uses on this occasion.
The toy already relied on exports last year to improve its post-pandemic results. After the decline in 2020 as a result of the health crisis and the closure of quarantined stores, the sector mainly turned to foreign trade to recover the figures before the coronavirus came. At the time, everything seemed to indicate that this line would continue with the arrival of 2022, but the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the uncertainty that has gripped the markets as a whole threatens to send it off until recently. everything sucks. Such was the effect of the export war, which started the year like a bullet. They began to bend from Februaryuntil it reaches lower levels than the previous year.
However, the situation has changed so much in recent months that foreign sales have not only improved, but also 15% growth compared to last year. José Antonio Pastor, director of the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers (AEFJ), emphasizes that “companies do their homework, stock up on time to avoid shortages and, as always, refresh their catalogs to offer innovations. The only thing missing is that sales will accompany and the truth is the current state of the dollar has done us a favorr, particularly to penetrate countries that purchase with this currency, such as the USA, Canada or Mexico”.
If current progress is sustained and the national market responds, the sector’s turnover at national level will be close to 1,700 million euros. companies in the province will exceed 450 millionwhich means improving last year’s figures.
In this context, AIJU has presented the 2022-2023 guideline, funded by the Ministry of Sustainable Economy, in which 29 companies and producer groups participated and contributed to its work. 103 of them were selected. Institute director Manuel Aragonés points out that only articles that have passed pedagogical and usability studies and that have more than 100 hours of free playtime are recommended.
The Minister of Economy, Rafa Climent, who was present at the event, emphasized, for his part, his ministry’s support for the internationalization of the sector. Fair Pre-ShowIn this context, where the guide is presented, it is an event where companies importing from England, Turkey and Greece participate with the support of Ivace.