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After the setback in April (-5.4%) in May the export of made in Italy goods started to grow again which, compared to May of last year, increased by 0.9% in values, even if in terms of volumes, a contraction of 3.6% was recorded.
Istat, which reports the data, instead records a slight cyclical downturn, equal to 0.3% and a wider reduction for imports (-3%), mainly due to the reduction in energy purchases. The decrease on a monthly basis in exports is due to the contraction in sales to the EU area (-1.7%), while exports to non-EU areas are on the increase (+1.2%).
On an annual basis, exports therefore return to growth, driven by sales on non-EU markets; imports, on the other hand, show a decline for the third consecutive month, explained for almost two thirds by the fall in purchases of natural gas and crude oil from Russia and OPEC countries.
In the first five months of the year, the trade balance is positive by 10.6 billion (it was -12.5 billion in the same period of 2022). For import prices, the negative economic trend continues which, albeit in a context of widespread declines, is still mainly due to the declines in energy products; on a trend basis, their decrease widens further.
The sectors that contribute most to the trend increase in exports include: means of transport, excluding motor vehicles (+24.2%), pharmaceutical, chemical-medical and botanical items (+18.5%), motor vehicles (+23 .5%) and machinery and equipment not classified elsewhere (nec) (+6.0%). Exports of refining products (-43.0%), metals and metal products (-12.6%) and chemical products (-9.3%) decreased on an annual basis.