Italy’s trade surplus widens to EUR 4.8 billion in April

Italy reported a trade surplus of EUR 4.807 billion in April, which compares with a EUR 0.362 billion surplus in April 2023.

The latest figure exceeded market expectations of EUR 4.25 billion.

Prices of essential commodities for the local economy have dropped since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, while restricting turnover in foreign purchases.

Italy’s total exports went up 10.5% year-on-year to EUR 52.660 billion in April, the data showed.

Shipments of pharmaceutical articles soared 50.7% YoY, those of food and beverages rose 19.3% YoY, while sales of machinery rose 8.9% YoY.

In the meantime, Italy’s total imports edged up 0.3% year-on-year to EUR 47.852 billion in April.

A drop in purchases of natural gas (-33.5% YoY) and crude oil (-27% YoY) has offset higher imports of chemical products (7.1% YoY), metals and metallurgical goods (7.2% YoY) as well as textile products (8.8% YoY).

The Euro was little changed on the day against the British Pound, with the EUR/GBP currency pair last trading at 0.8408.

Yet, the Forex pair was holding near lows last seen in mid-August 2022.