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Momentary stop. After the setback in April, extra-EU exports are growing again, achieving an annual progress of 4.1%. In May, Istat recorded sales of 27.3 billion euros, the result of widespread growth in many geographical areas, especially in China and the Middle East, where progress is largely double-digit.
Russia (-33%) and the USA (-6%) in particular contain the average, while elsewhere there are signs of growth almost everywhere.
Putting the data into perspective, the progress in current values, also linked to the price effect, is remarkable: before the crisis, in May 2019, the monthly extra-EU collections of our companies amounted to 21 billion euros, now they are 30 % superior.
The impact of the drop in energy prices on national imports is evident, which with respect to non-EU countries drop by almost 14 percentage points, the fourth consecutive monthly reduction: in five months we imported 18 billion less from non-EU countries, a drop of more than 14%.
Diversification of sources and fall in the value of gas produce a Copernican revolution towards Russia, whose sales in Italy are almost zero, collapsing by 86%: if in May 2022 our liabilities towards Moscow exceeded two billion euros, now, despite a drop in our sales due to the sanctions, we are in the black by three million. Very different balance also looking at the first five months of the year: in 2022 the red exceeded 11 billion, today it is contained in less than half a billion.