In October, Italy's trade surplus with non-EU countries more than doubled on an annual basis: from +1,4 to +2,9 billion euros. In the first ten months of 2013 the figure reached 14,2 billion, against a deficit of -4,1 billion in the same period of 2012. Net of energy, the trade balance widens from +49,3 billion in the period January-October 2012 to +56,7 billion in the same period of 2013.
The data were released today by Istat, specifying that last month sales to Switzerland (-14,4%), Turkey (-2,7%) and Opec countries (-0,4%) decreased. The decrease in imports is particularly significant from Opec countries (-24,8%), Turkey (-22,3%), Mercosur countries (-15,6%) and the United States (-12,4%).
In October, compared to the previous month, exports grew by 0,8% while imports decreased by 1,3%. The cyclical growth of exports can be ascribed to energy (+13,4%) and, to a lesser extent, to consumer goods (+4,0%). Net of energy products, the trend in sales to non-EU countries stagnates (-0,1%).
In the last quarter, the cyclical decline in exports (-0,6%) was mainly affected by the decline in sales of capital goods (-2,0%) and intermediate products (-1,4%). In the same period, the cyclical increase in imports (+0,7%) was contrasted only by the decrease in purchases of energy and durable consumer goods (both -3,0%).
Compared to the same month of 2012, in October 2013 exports recorded a modest increase (+1,5%) while imports fell significantly (-8,0%). For the entire period (January-October 2013) the growth trend in exports is confirmed as positive (+2,0%) and involves all the main groupings of goods, except for energy (-13,5%) and intermediate products ( -3,3%). In the same period, imports recorded a large decline (-10,1%), particularly sharp for energy (-19,1%).
