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A moderate increase in exports compared to the previous month (+0.4%) and a 1% growth compared to June 2022, thanks above all to the good performance of cross-border sales of consumer goods. But the most interesting data detected by Istat in June with regard to foreign trade is the trade balance, positive for 7.7 billion euros, a marked improvement compared to the -2.5 billion recorded in June 2022, mainly driven by the decline of imports, which on a cyclical basis mark -3.3%, but on a trend basis the collapse is close to 17%.
The June figure determines, in the first six months of the year, a positive trade balance of 18.3 billion (compared to -15 billion in the same period of 2022).
The growth of exports in June was contained both towards the countries of the European Union (+0.5%) and towards the non-EU area (+0.3%). On an annual basis, foreign sales increased in value, as mentioned, by 1%, volumes decreased by 1.1%. The growth of exports in value is the synthesis of an increase for non-EU markets (+2.8%) and a reduction for the EU area (-0.6%).
Particularly significant is the reduction in the energy deficit which in June stood at -3.9 billion euros, against -9.3 billion a year ago, while the surplus in the trade of non-energy products increased from 6.8 billion in June 2022 to 11.6 billion last June.
Sectors and markets
The sectors that contribute most to the trend increase in exports include machinery (+12.4%), motor vehicles (+43.0%) and means of transport, excluding motor vehicles (+18.8%). On the other hand, exports of refining products (-42.6%), metals and metal products (-11.6%) and chemical products (-13.6%) decreased on an annual basis.