Since last February, Made in Italy exports to EU markets are continuing, on a trend basis, positive growth rates (+5,7% in July, exceeding 22 billion euro for the second time ever). As already reported in the MiSE Export Bulletin, favorable signals also come from imports: in the same period of the year, Italian purchases increased by 2014% compared to the corresponding month of 8,9. Overall, in the first seven months of this year, our country totaled a trade balance surplus of 7,6 billion, however in contraction, due to an increase in exports of 4,1% and a greater increase in imports of 7,6%, of 3,7 billion compared to the same period in 2014. A similar situation in the EU found by analyzing the data on international trade. In July, as has been the case since February, our exports recorded a positive trend growth rate. In particular, compared to the corresponding month of 2014, sales of Italian products in foreign markets increased by 6,3%, totaling a record flow of 41,1 billion. From the processing of data disseminated byIstatFurthermore, it is noted that in July the Trade Balance, for the first time ever, has exceeded the threshold of 8 billion, thanks to a more marked increase in exports than imports (4,2%). Finally, between January and July of this year, Italian international exports grew by 5,2% while imports increased by 4,7%. The main consequence was then that of achieving a record surplus in the trade balance, equal to +26,5 billion.
Going into detail, it is noted that as many as 24 of the 28 EU countries have experienced positive increases, of which particularly considerable those of Cyprus (+24,5%), Ireland (+21,9%) and Croatia (+11,6%). In absolute terms, Germany still holds the leading position at the European level: between January and July, in fact, exports increased by 6,9%, going from 657,9 billion in the first seven months of 2014 to the current 703,5 billion (+45,6 billion increase). All the main European partners, in addition to the German market, achieved favorable performances. Among these, the largest relative increase was totaled by the United Kingdom (+9,6%) followed precisely by Italy with +5,2%.
In particular, as reported by SACE focus, the perception of Made in Italy is still strongly linked to the products of agri-food sector. In reality, this part of our exports, although important, is worth 7% of our exports: a greater percentage is represented by machinery, for a value of 74 billionalmost three times as much. What emerges, however, is that in the last ten years, the export of food products has grown much more than that of machinery; in the last three even twice as much, to the advantage of Germans, Americans and new competitors. According to published forecasts, Italian machinery exports will grow by 5% per year until 2018, reaching 90 billion. If these industries were promoted as is being done for downstream products, such as food and beverages, 4 billion more exports could be obtained in the next 12 years. The markets to approach are very heterogeneous: from the main importers such as the USA, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and France, to rapidly expanding countries such as Mexico, Thailand, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Poland.
