It grows againItalian export. The data Istat confirm the recovery in April of sales of goods and services from Italy abroad at a pace that had not been recorded for several months. A +10.7% on an annual basis aided by growth over the previous month of over 2%. Even if there are some temporary circumstances that helped these results, such as the two more working days compared to March, the figures reflect a clear recovery in exports in our country.
The main driving force behind these results are non-EU countries. Over the past year, the growth in the value and volumes of exports outside the borders of the European Union has been the most significant in recent times. Made in Italy is once again establishing itself far from national borders, but on a monthly level the return of one of the most important markets of all for our country should not be underestimated: the German one. After several months of decline, exports to Germany have started to rise again, significantly influencing the short-term figure.
The Istat report also reports changes in imports, in slight decline on a monetary level. The energy ones are especially weighing, which thanks to the normalization of gas prices compared to 2022 and 2023 have undergone a sharp decline. This has led to a strongly positive trade balance, increasing on an annual basis.
Italian exports begin to grow again in April
In April, exports from Italy recorded growth of 10.7% on an annual basis. Istat reports this in its latest document on data relating to Italian foreign trade. Compared to March, growth was 2.3% also helped by the two more working days that the fourth month of 2024 had compared to the previous one. In the first 4 months of the year, Italy sold almost 208 billion in goods and services abroad.
April presents a clear recovery compared to the first three months of the year. These performances made it possible to bring exports back to growth in the February-April quarter, with a figure of +1.9%. Two markets in particular are important in this recovery. First those outside the European Unionwhich recorded growth in exports of 13.6%, significantly higher than that towards the rest of the EU, +8.2%. Positive data also from OPEC countries, the world’s largest oil exporters, which increased their purchases of Italian BNI by 18.2% on an annual basis .
The markets with the strongest growth for Italian exports
Among the markets with the strongest growth for Italian exports are:
- There Türkiye +70%
- The United Kingdom +42.3%
- The Japan +23.2%
- The Belgium +20.2%
- THE Netherlands +14.9%
- There Spain +12.7%
- There France +5.2%
In the short term, however, it is important to underline the data on exports to Germany. Historically, Germany is an important outlet market for Italian goods, given its geographical proximity and the size of the country’s economy. In recent months, however, Berlin has suffered from a complex economic situation, given by high energy prices and an overall difficulty in recovering from the post-pandemic crisis.
Recently, however, the German production system has started to grow again and this has had an almost immediate impact on Italian exports to Germany. After almost a year of consecutive declines, the figure returned to positive on a monthly basis, +3.8%. The only countries with a significant drop in exports are Austria, -8% and Switzerland, -6.5%.
The most successful Made in Italy products
The increase of Italian exports it was quite generalized. Almost all sectors have been affected by the positive trend in foreign sales, but in some cases some products have found greater success than others. On a monthly basis, non-durable consumer goods and instrumental goods have undergone the most significant changes. Over the quarter, however, the importance of the latter declines while durable consumer goods grow.
Similar situation on an annual basis. Compared to April 2023, i consumer goods, durable and non-durable, remain the major driver of export growth. However, in this time period, intermediate ones also stand out, otherwise remaining around parity. The worst results, both at an economic and trend level, are those of energy goods.
According to Istat data, the sectors that grew the most in exports in April compared to the previous year are:
- L’high manufacturing +53.6%
- There pharmaceutical +50.7%
- Food +19.3%
- Electronics +18.7%
- Electrical appliances +10.7%
- Chemistry +10.6%
- Rubber and plastic +10.4%
- Machinery +8.9%
However, not all these sectors have the same absolute value. There pharmaceutical Italian, despite having grown less than high manufacturing, contributes more to the total growth of exports with more than 3 percentage points compared to 2 in the other sector. Food, machinery and chemistry follow in this ranking. Also worth mentioning the only sector in decline in the entire Italian economic panorama: that of motor vehicles. Exports fell by 15.6% for cars and other road vehicles and by 5.7% for other means of transport.
The decline in imports and the trade balance
The increase in exports was accompanied in April by a cyclical decline in imports. Compared to March, the value of goods imported by Italian companies decreased by 1.1%, with a particular decline in capital goods and the energy sector. Precisely as regards energy, the decrease becomes clear on a quarterly level, -7.2%, and on a yearly basis. In fact, compared to April 2023, energy imports decreased by 26.2%.
These results are mainly the result of decrease in the prices of energy goods, particularly natural gas, on international markets in the last year. Once the period of instability due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine had passed, Italy found new supplies of methane via gas pipelines and by sea which significantly stabilized prices and also inflation, now firmly below 1%.
The consequence of these data is the change in our country’s trade balance, the difference between the value of exports and that of imports. This data has returned to being consistently positive. Italy exported 4.8 billion euros in goods more than it imported, compared to just 362 million euros in the same month of 2023. This result is affected by the energy deficit, the difference between exports and imports of energy goods, which goes from a negative 5.7 billion euros to a negative 3.7 billion.
