A positive quarter ended for theItalian industry. According to the preliminary data released on Wednesday by Istat, after the positive data recorded a January and February, March also went on file with the plus sign. Of course, the recovery is still very slow: according to the Institute of Statistics, the third month of the year ended with a cyclical increase in industrial turnover equal to 0,3%. In the entire quarter, on the other hand, the overall index grew by 0,9% compared to the period October-December 2018, during which, however, negative peaks had been reached.
The rise, explains Istat, involves all the main groupings of industries, with the exception of energy, but it is not the result of an internal economic recovery in our country. The economic dynamics of the turnover, in fact, is the synthesis of a limited one downturn in the internal market (-0,3%) and a sustained increase in the foreign one (+ 1,5%).
For the orders, also on this front the data recorded at the end of March are positive, with a +2,2% conjunctural. The quarterly average remained unchanged. As for turnover, the rebound in orders also reflects a slight contraction in orders from the domestic market (-0,5%) and a marked growth in those from abroad (+6,2%).
In detail of the various industrial sectors, in March the seasonally adjusted turnover indices show a cyclical increase of 0,9% for intermediate goods and 0,1% for consumer goods. Capital goods remain at the same level as the previous month, while energy records a slight reduction of 0,3%.
Adjusted for calendar effects, the total turnover grows in trend terms by 1,3%, with increases of 0,2% on the domestic market and 3,5% on the foreign market. With reference to the manufacturing sector, the sector of machinery and equipment and that of rubber, plastic and non-metallic minerals recorded the most significant trend growth (+7,9%), while the pharmaceutical industry showed the greatest decline (-10,3 %).
In trend terms, the raw index of orders decreased by 3,6%, with reductions on both markets (-4,4% domestic and -2,4% foreign). The greatest tendential growth is recorded in the textile industries (+4,6%), while the worst result is seen in the pharmaceutical industry (-12,9%). c
