Exports fly in May. According to preliminary estimates on extra-EU foreign trade released by Istat, last month compared to the previous month, there was a 5,5% growth for exports and 1,2% for imports. Compared to May 2011, the increase is 14,1 percent.
The cyclical increase in exports, spread to all the main groupings of goods, is evident particularly accentuated for energy (+51,1%). As regards imports, Istat explains, the growth particularly affects capital goods (+10,7%), while non-durable consumer goods recorded a decline (-3,4%). In the last quarter, the cyclical growth of exports (+4,9%) mainly concerned energy (+13,2%) and capital goods (+8,6%). The limited growth in imports (+1,3%) is instead due to intermediate products (+3,7%) and energy (+3,3%).
In May 2012 the trade balance recorded a surplus of 306 million euro, a clear improvement compared to May 2011 (-1.877 million). In fact, against a modest worsening of the energy deficit on an annual basis (from -4.792 to -4.971 million euros), the surplus in the trade of non-energy products widens considerably (from 2.915 to 5.277 million euros).
The most dynamic export markets are: United States (+40,4%), Opec (+37,1%), Japan (+21,2%), Turkey (+17,1%), Asean (+16,9 .15,8%) and Eda (+XNUMX%). Sales to China, on the other hand, recorded a decline (-15,4%). The decrease in imports of goods regards in particular those from: Turkey (-22,8%), India (-17,4%), Asean (-7,6%), Eda (-7,5%) and Switzerland (-7,0%). The OPEC countries recorded a significant increase (+50,7%).
