Istat, in August exports -2.7%, imports -3.7% on month. Strong drop in exports to USA
The month-on-month decrease in exports is due to the large drop in sales to the non-EU area (-7.7%)
In August, Italy's trade balance surplus amounted to €2.050bn from €1.335bn in the same month of 2024, Istat said, adding that the energy deficit narrowed from -€4.120bn in August 2024 to -€3.431bn in August 2025. The surplus in non-energy trade, at +€5.481bn, remained broadly stable compared to a year earlier (+€5.454bn).
Imports in August are estimated to have declined more (-3.7 per cent) than exports (-2.7 per cent). The month-on-month decrease in exports is due to the large drop in sales to the non-EU area (-7.7 per cent), while exports to the EU area grew by 2.1 per cent.
Exports decreased in August on an annual basis by 1.1% in monetary terms and by 2.8% in volume. The tendential decrease in exports in value is the result of a marked contraction for non-EU markets (-7%) and a sustained, but less intense, growth for EU markets (+5.4%). Imports recorded a tendential decrease of 3% in value, determined by the reduction in purchases from both areas, EU (-3%) and non-EU (-2.9%); in volume, imports decreased by 4.1%.
Falling sectors
Among the sectors that contribute most to the tendential decline in exports, Istat continues, are: machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified (-5.6%), sports goods, games, musical instruments, jewellery, medical instruments and other products n.e.c. (-19.8%) and leather goods, excluding clothing, and the like (-9.5%). Only exports of pharmaceutical, chemical-medical and botanical articles (+15.1%), basic metals and metal products, excluding machinery and plants (+14%), coke and refined petroleum products (+11.4%) and, to a much lesser extent, those of food, beverages and tobacco (+0.7%) grew on an annual basis.
Export to US -21.1% year-on-year
On a year-on-year basis, the countries making the largest contributions to the decline in domestic exports are the US (-21.1%), Turkey (-25.9%) and China (-16.3%). In contrast, France (+20.6%), Spain (+9.4%), the Netherlands (+13.5%), the UK (+7.3%) and Belgium (+8.8%) make the largest positive contributions.
