The balance of Italian foreign trade returned positive in July, with a surplus of 1,4 billion euro, still down on the 1,6 billion recorded in the same month last year. In the period January-July 2011 the deficit amounted to 20,7 billion euro, also in this case a much higher value than that of 2010 (-13,8 billion). In the same period, the non-energy balance is positive (+16,9 billion) and up on 2010. The data was communicated today by Istat. In July, cyclical increases were recorded for both flows: +1,6% for imports and +1% for exports.
The increase in imports is linked to the increase in purchases on EU markets (+3,4%), while for sales the growth is due to the trend towards non-EU markets (+2,2%). Over the last three months, the cyclical growth of exports (+0,7%) has been confirmed, with a wider variation on non-EU markets (+2,1%). On the other hand, the cyclical change in imports was negative (-2,3%).
On an annual basis there are increases of 6,1% for imports and 5,4% for exports. On non-EU markets, on the other hand, the growth in flows is almost double (+8% import and +7,5% export) compared to the EU market (+4,4% import and +3,7% export). In the first seven months of 2011, growth on an annual basis stood at 16,4% for purchases and 14% for sales, with more consistent variations for non-EU markets (+22,2% for imports and +16,7% for export).
In July, the most dynamic sectors were that of energy products (import +19,9%) and that of intermediate products (+7,2% in exports and +6,2% in imports). Closely followed by capital goods for export (+6,3%). Trade in durable consumer goods is down (-11,7% for imports, -2,5% for exports).
Export growth in July was driven by sales of base metals and metal products to Germany and Switzerland and of machinery and appliances to the United States and Germany. The increase in imports is mainly determined by the purchase of oil and gas from Russia, refined petroleum products from the United States and Russia and metals from Turkey.
