Foreign trade and industrial import prices

Istat presents data on Italy’s foreign trade as well as unit value and volume indices (base year 2010=100) referring to January 2016. The results of the flash estimates on extra-EU trade for January 2016 have been disseminated on 25 February .

• In January 2016 seasonally-adjusted data, compared to December 2015, decreased by 2.2% for outgoing flows and by 0.6 for incoming flows. Exports increased for EU countries (+1.1%) while decreased for non-EU countries (-6.3%). The decrease of imports is the result of an increase for EU countries 1.5%) and a drop for non-EU countries (-3.6%). Over the last three months, seasonally adjusted data, in comparison with the previous three months, showed a growth of 1.5% for exports and a fall of 0.8% for imports.
• In January 2016, compared with the same month of the previous year, trade decreased by 3.5% for exports and by 3.2% for imports. Outgoing flows decreased by 0.3 for EU countries and 8.0 for non-EU countries. Incoming flows fell by 0.6 for EU area and 6.6 for non-EU area. The trade balance in January amounted to +35 million Euros (+521 million Euros for EU area and -486 million Euros for non- EU countries)

The import price index measures the evolution of prices for industrial products bought by industrial and commercial enterprises in Italy, both in the euro zone and the non-euro zone. Since January 2010 indices are compiled in the reference base 2010.

In January 2016 the total import price index decreased by 1.6% with respect to the previous month (the index decreased by 0.4% in the euro zone and by 2.5% for the non-euro zone); the total twelve-month rate of change decreased by 4.5% (respectively decreased by 0.9 for the euro zone and by 7.4% for the non-euro zone).

The quarterly total index decreased by 2.2% compared with the previous period, by 0.7% for the euro zone and by 3.4% for the non-euro zone.

Date of next release: April 15th 2016