(Finance) – “In the previous survey, growth in the January-October 2023 period was confirmed in October +4.3% compared to 2022. The data published today by ISTAT on Italian exports to non-EU countries instead express yet another trend reversal in the month of November compared to the previous year equal to -3.7%, which brings the overall result of the first 11 months to + 3.5% (+5% net of energy) for a value of 277 billion euros. At this point of the year, the accrual of exports to non-EU countries can be considered rather consolidated, so much so that even a possible decline in December would hardly lead us to close 2023 in negative territory, but – given the extreme volatility of the context – everything is yet to be proven”. This was declared by the President of ICE, Matteo Zoppas, on the data released today by ISTAT regarding non-EU exports in November.
“The Eurozone economy is still going through a phase of weakness which weighs on both businesses and consumption. For this reason it is necessary to push and enhance the presence of our production on global markets, which are suffering less. Given the significant reductions on an annual basis of exports to Switzerland (-23.7%), the United Kingdom (-21.4%) and Japan (-16.8%), sales to MERCOSUR countries increased (+8.5%), Turkey ( +7.4%), OPEC countries and China (both +5.6%) and the United States (+4.9%).
The “energy” factor remains a determining factor in trade dynamics. TO November 2023 in fact (compared to the previous month of October) the 3.0% decline in exports compared to the previous month of the same year concerns all the groups of the main industries – with the exception of durable consumer goods (+2.6%) – and is mainly due to the contraction in sales of energy (-31%), intermediate goods (-3.4%) and non-durable consumer goods (-2.5%). Similar scenario if we take into consideration Nov2023 on Nov2022, where the contraction of 3.7% (although influenced by occasional high-impact operations, such as a large shipbuilding order that took place in 2022, net of which, the decline is reduced to -1.2%) is caused by -16.4% by energy sales, followed by intermediate goods (-6.9%) and capital goods (-4.9%), while exports of durable consumer goods grow ( +4.3%) and non-durable (+0.5%)”, continues the President.
“The end of 2023 therefore gives us important indications regarding the work we must do to bring Made in Italy to be even better known and appreciated at an international level. Schemes and rules have been skipped or profoundly changed, also due to exogenous events and tragic like past pandemics and ongoing conflicts. We need to be more flexible and quicker in seizing the opportunities that present themselves on international markets and this can be done through the teamwork put in place by the will of the Government and the entire Country system of which ICE (together with SACE, SIMEST, CDP) is part. In particular, great opportunities lie ahead in the development of exports to the Balkans and the induced potential that the application of the Mattei Plan can create”, concludes Zoppas.