(Finance) – “In the period between January and May 2024 Italian exports had substantially held up at -0.1% compared to the same period of the previous year. In June compared to June 2023, however, recorded a sharp drop in foreign sales of -6.1% which led to a reduction of -1.1% in Italian exports in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period last year”. This was declared by the president of ICE Agency, Matteo Zoppas, commenting on the data published today by theIstat on Foreign Trade of June 2024.
“To particularly mark the European markets were negative in June (-7.2) which fell more than the non-European markets (-4.9%) and the main weight markets such as Germany (-8.7%) and France (-8.1%) contributed. In the sectors, a significant decline must be noted in the weight categories, motor vehicles (-21.5%) and energy sector (-26.9%) to which are added the concerns for the trend of textile-clothing-footwear which fell by -12.4%. Helping to counteract the decline were the pharmaceuticals which rose by +10.6%, the chemicals by +1.6% and the food sector which held up by +0.7%.
In the first six months of 2024 the gap in the dynamics between exports to EU countries which fell by -2.8%, with Germany and France respectively at -6.7% and -3.2%, and the Exports to non-EU countries held up at +0.8% driven by good performances towards OPEC countries (+11%) and Central and South America (+10.6%). Worthy of note is the growth in exports of sporting goods, games, musical instruments, +19.5% and food products at +7.7% which confirms itself as one of the main assets of Made in Italy in the world.
The worsening of international tensions, the risks of a further widening of the conflict fronts that we are witnessing in recent weeks, together with the political and electoral developments in the United States and the effects that these may have on the markets and on the attitude of consumers, require a lot of caution and do not allow us to make certain forecasts on the trends of foreign trade for the coming months”, concludes Zoppas.