Italy: a trade deficit of 31 billion euros despite record exports
If Italy signs a record increase in its exports in September, inflation weighs on the trade balance of the country, which records a trade deficit of 31 billion euros in 9 months.
The good news for Italy is that for the eleventh consecutive month, exports grew by double digits, climbing 21.6% year on year in September, or 10 billion euros more than in September. 2021 and more than 600 billion over one year.
The result, communicated by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) on Friday, was achieved in particular thanks to the strong growth in prices linked to inflation rather than to an increase in volumes. The Italian performance (+21.1% in 9 months) still shows a better result than Paris (+20% in 9 months) and especially than Germany (+15%).
Markets imported from Made in Italy
The increase in Italian exports mainly results from the growth in demand from certain markets, including the United States (+48.6%), France (+18.8%), Germany (+14.8 %) and OPEC countries (+49.1%). On the other hand, exports to Russia fell again, by -34.6% in September, under the effect of the war with Ukraine.
The Made in Italy sectors that saw their exports increase the most over one year were pharmaceutical and botanical products (+36.2%), machinery and equipment (+13.9%), base metals and metal products (+15.5%), as well as food, beverages and tobacco (+19.8%).
Significantly higher rise in imports
While Italian exports rose by 21.6% year-on-year in September, the rise in imports was much higher – under the effect of soaring energy prices -, with an increase of 40.4% and 43.5% over the first nine months of the year, underlines Istat.
It is indeed energy that weighs on the trade balance. In the first nine months of 2021, Italy imported gas and crude oil worth 39 billion euros, compared to 106 billion in the same period this year.
A weight that weighs on Italy’s trade deficit, equivalent to 31 billion euros over the first nine months of the year, against a trade surplus of 37 billion over the same period last year. In 2021, the euro zone’s third-largest economy posted a surplus of 50.4 billion euros.