According to the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT)´s latest report, this monthly decline in exports impacted on industrial power groups as well as both intermediate and non-durable consumer goods, by dropping 31.0; 3.4 and 2.5%, respectively.

However, ISTAT’s experts, foreign sales of consumer durables experienced a growth of 2.6% at that stage.

Regarding imports, there were cyclical declines in all groups, with a 7.5% drop in energy and 4.5% in consumer durables but purchases of capital goods grew by 1.7%.

In November 2023, Italy´s trade balance with non-EU countries was positive for an amount equivalent to over €6.2 billion, a figure over €1.8 billion higher than that reported in November 2022.

During the eleventh month of this year, large year-on-year reductions were seen in exports to Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Japan, with respective drops of 23.7%, 21.4% and 16.8%.

However, sales to MERCOSUR countries, Türkiye, OPEC nations, China and the United States surged by 8.5%, 7.4%, 5.6%, 5.6%, 5.6% and 4.9%, respectively.

Imports from all major non-EU partner countries declined on an annual basis, with purchases from Russia in particular reporting the largest downward trend, down by as much as 91.8%.

Reductions were also reported in purchases from OPEC, MERCOSUR and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, with respective reductions of 36.1%; 35.4% and 28.8%, while imports rose by 9.7% from UK and by 1.4% from Türkiye.

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