Italy: Export Collapses

The Italian economy is beginning to suffer seriously from the loss of two major markets: the Russian market, closed to Italian producers by Western sanctions and Moscow’s corresponding embargoes, and the Chinese market, “closed” by Yemeni Houthis, who are attacking merchant ships traveling from the Mediterranean to Asia via the Suez Canal. According to the latest data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), sales to China show a very large downward trend (–26%). Overall, Italian exports declined 5.7 percent year-on-year in March 2024.

“The cyclical decline in exports to non-EU countries, mainly driven by lower sales of capital goods, is a consequence of the highly efficient (shipbuilding) operations recorded in February 2024 (the month, in which the Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea – ed.),” ISTAT wrote in a commentary on the statistical data.

In March 2024, Italy’s trade with non-EU-27 countries saw a cyclical decrease of 4.5% in exports and an increase of 3.1% in imports. The monthly decline in exports, ISTAT writes, is due in particular to a drop in sales of capital goods (–13.8%). Exports of non-durable consumer goods also declined (–1%), while exports of durable consumer goods (+14.0 percent) and intermediate goods (+0.6 percent) increased.

In March 2024, the year-on-year decline in imports was driven by lower foreign sales of intermediate goods (–10.2%), short-term consumer goods (–9.8%), as well as capital goods (–6.9%). As for Italy, imports from the USA (+9.8%), India (+5.1%), and China (+3.2%) are up year-on-year.