Foreign trade

Istat presents data on Italy’s foreign trade as well as unit value and volume indices (base year 2010=100) referring to December 2013. The results of the flash estimates on extra-EU trade for December 2013 have been disseminated on January 24^th.

Compared to the previous month, the percentage change of exports in December increased by +5.1% reflecting a growth in sales for both European (+3.5%) and non-European markets (+7.1%). The growth in imports (+3.6%) is due to the growth in purchases by non-European countries (+6.8%). In the quarter (October-December 2013), exports’ increase   (+0.9%) is mainly due to a rise in sales to EU countries (+1.2%). The fall in imports (-1.7%) is principally due to a reduction of purchases of goods from non-EU countries (-2.0%).

In December 2013, compared with the same month of the previous year, exports increased by 4.9% and was due to a growth in sales for both EU (+7.9%) and non-European markets (+2.0%). The rise of imports (+0.6%) is equally due to purchases by EU (+0.6%) and by non-EU countries(+0.5%). In December, trade balance amounted to +3.6 billion euros: +0.2 billion for EU countries and +3.4 billion for non-EU countries. Net of energy products, the balance was +7.9 billion euros (Table 2).