Foreign Trade

Istat presents data on Italy’s foreign trade as well as unit value and volume indices (base year 2005=100) referring to May 2012. The results of the flash estimates on extra-EU trade for May 2012 have been disseminated on June 21^rd.

• Compared to the previous month, export in May increased by 1.4% reflecting a growth of 5.5% of sales to non-EU markets. Imports increased by 0.9%, with a growth of purchases by both EU markets (0.7%) and non-EU (1.2%). In the quarter (March 2012-May 2012), exports registered an economic growth of 1.2% due to an increase in sales to countries outside the EU (+4.9%). For purchases of goods there is a fall of 0.1% greater for EU markets (-1.3%).

• In May 2012, compared with the same month of the previous year, export increased by 4.8% and affects non-EU markets (14.1%). The decrease of imports (-4.5%) was due to reduced purchases by both EU countries (-7.6%) and non EU countries (-0.9%). In May, trade balance amounted to +1.008 million euros: +691 million for EU countries and +316 for non-EU countries. Net of energy products, the balance was 6.1 billion euros (Table 2).