Turin and Genoa, collapse of exports

After the significant increase experienced in 2023, exports from the North-West regions (Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta/Vallée d'Aoste and Liguria) recorded an equally significant drop in the first half of 2024. In fact, between January and June of this year, the value exported contracted by 7.6% on an annual basis, decidedly more severe than the -1.1% for the country as a whole.

In the breakdown, only Valle d'Aosta/Vallée d'Aoste has a positive performance (+3.6%), while Piedmont (-4.6%) and Liguria (-26.3%) show a minus sign; on the national territory, only Marche (-41.3%) and Basilicata (-40.9%) do worse. Foreign sales fell from 38.8 to 35.8 billion Euro, a drop of about 3 billion, attributable almost equally to Liguria (-1.4 billion) and Piedmont (-1.5 billion). While Liguria's performance was strongly influenced by the drop in exports from the province of Genoa of ships and boats (-923 million; -99%), in particular to the United States (-814 million), Piedmont's downturn is mainly attributable to automotive (-1.4 billion; -33.9%), and above all to the drop in sales to Germany (-520 million) and France (-387 million). Together with Ascoli Piceno, Turin and Genoa are also the Italian provinces with the largest fall in exports in absolute terms during the period examined.

Despite the sharp contraction experienced (-29.6%), motor vehicles continue to be the products most sold across the border by companies in the area, although their weight on total exports has dropped from 12.1% in the first half of 2023 to 9.2% in the first half of 2024. On the other hand, the product category that showed the greatest increase was 'Other food products' (+€159.6 million; +12%), whose incidence on the total value of exported goods increased from 3.4% to 4.2% (+0.7 percentage points). The balance of the 'clothing articles, excluding fur clothing' segment is also very positive (+€154.4 million; +25.4%), as its weight in the total export value rose from 1.6% to 2.1% (+0.6 p. p.).

Looking at outlet markets, sales to France, which is the main trading partner for local companies (14.8% of total exports), fell by more than 504 million euro (-8.7%). Exports to the United States (-€1.5 billion; -33.3%) and Germany (-€600 million; -11.4%) also fell sharply. On the other hand, among the markets that have risen strongly is Gibraltar, a country to which exports have risen from 30 million in the first six months of last year to over 184 million in the first six months of this year, equal to a tendential variation of +514%, thanks to the positive dynamic of exports from Liguria of 'Products from oil refining'.