Foreign trade, Trentino Alto Adige saves the macro area

Amidst changing international winds and a climate of persistent uncertainty, 2024 also proved to be a complex year for the north-eastern part of the country, where foreign trade showed lacklustre signs.

Overall, the division saw its exports fall by about -1.1% compared to 2023, registering a more intense contraction compared to the national average (-0.4%) and Lombardy (+0.5%), but still managing to contain the drop better compared to the southern area (with about -4.8%) and the North-West (-7.9%). Driving up the lukewarm results in the North-East were above all Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (+1.9%) and, albeit to a much lesser extent, Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+0.2%), while Veneto significantly reduced its contribution (-1.9%). Looking at the individual provinces, Vicenza ranks first in terms of exported value (around 20.3% of the area total, equivalent to €22.7 billion), but the results achieved by Treviso (14.2%, or €15.9 billion), Verona (13.6%, €15.2 billion) and Padua (12.0%, €13.4 billion) are also particularly significant. Looking at growth, on the other hand, it is Gorizia that takes first place (+24.0% from the previous year), while the most marked contractions emerge in Venice (-9.0%), Udine (-7.8%) and Belluno (-5.1%).

Among the main destination countries, Germany confirms its role as a historical partner, absorbing a good 14.2% of the area's total exports (about 15.9 billion euros, a large part of which is attributable to the sale of Other General Purpose Machinery, Beverages and Other Metal Products). This is followed by France (with 10.2%, EUR 11.4 billion, driven by exports of Footwear, Furniture and Other General Purpose Machinery) and the United States (9.6%, EUR 10.8 billion, with Medical and Dental Instruments and Supplies, Beverages and Ships and Boats at the top). Among the emerging outlet markets, mention should be made of the United Kingdom, which increased its imports from the Northeast by about +11.4% between 2023 and 2024. This increase is mainly due to a growth in the sale of Ships and boats (worth more than EUR 650 million in 2024), followed by Furniture (more than EUR 500 million) and Beverages (EUR 458 million).

In general, in the ranking of the most exported goods from the Northeast, the top five positions (in terms of incidence on the total) are occupied by Other general-purpose machinery (7.0%), Other special-purpose machinery (5.9%), Medical and dental instruments and supplies (5.3%), Furniture (4.4%) and Beverages (3.9%). Worth noting, once again, is the increased weight of the Ships and Boats sector, which increased its export value by +44.3% (from 2.0 to 2.9 billion Euro, approximately) in the space of one year.