Export boom in Valle d'Aosta, but for local businesses there is the Trump uncertainty
The region ranks third in Italy in terms of percentage growth in the first quarter of 2025. In value terms, cross-border sales are the highest in the last three years
3' min read
3' min read
Valle d'Aosta is the third region in Italy for export growth in the first quarter of 2025. This is confirmed by the data released by Istat, which shows an increase of 11.8% in foreign trade, in value, for the autonomous region, compared to the same period last year. Only Friuli Venezia Giulia (+26.1%) and Lazio (+16.9%) did better. The figure for Valle d'Aosta is even more significant in the light of the national average (+3.2% year-on-year) and, above all, the trend in the reference macro-area: the North-West in fact recorded -0.2%.
In terms of value, the cross-border sales figure for the first three months of 2025 is the highest in the last three years: EUR 227 million, compared to just under EUR 203 million in 2024 and EUR 212.7 million the year before.
Lead Metallurgy
.In the hypothetical ranking of the most exported goods, the podium is crystallised: metallurgy dominates - with the presence of the Cogne Acciai Speciali group, moreover currently affected by recourse to the redundancy fund for around 750 employees, according to Fiom CGIL data - with a value of almost 148 million euros, up 8.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024, followed by the food and beverages sector, stable at 20.6 million euros, and in third place machinery (instrumental mechanics) with almost 15 million euros, up 8.4% trend-wise.
Exports of means of transport are also above the ten million euro mark, while sales of rubber and plastic products are close to eight million euro. Worthy of mention is the computer and information technology sector, which in the face of an export value of 3.5 million (up 16% compared to the first quarter of 2024) has to reckon with the crisis of the Core Informatica company, which involves about sixty employees. The trade unions in Valle d'Aosta and Canavese speak of a sealed outcome.
Positive trade balance
.Going back to the statistical data compiled on the basis of Istat surveys, a positive result of more than EUR 100 million in the regional trade balance emerges. The value of imports stood at just under EUR 123 million (it was around EUR 136 million in the same period in 2024 and 2023). Leading the incoming goods purchases were metallurgy with almost EUR 64 million, then machinery with EUR 10.5 million, rubber-plastics and mineral extraction products with over EUR 9.5 million each.
