Italian exports shipments to non-EU countries decreased by 9.9% in 2020, thus recording the worst trend since 2009, despite the rapid recovery that started in May. Istat notes this in the latest report in which it also gave outcome of the results for the month of December.
For more than 6 percentage points, the decline is explained by the drop in sales of capital goods and non-durable consumer goods. The contraction, spread to all the main outlet markets, was lower than the average for Switzerland, the United States, China and Japan, while the contraction was greater in India, ASEAN countries and OPEC countries.

Particularly in December, trade with non-EU countries dropped in both directions: exports decresed by 4.6%, while imports decreased by 1.3%. Overall, Italian imports in 2020 recorded a contraction of 15.3%, for more than two thirds caused by the collapse in purchases of energy products.

However, it should be noted that the October-December 2020 quarter is an improvement compared to the previous one. In particular, exports grew by 4.0%, supported mainly by growth, energy (+ 12%), durable consumer goods (+ 7.9%) and capital goods (+ 5.2%).