According to data released by Istat on Italy’s foreign trade – currently available only for non-EU countries – in the first four months of 2025, Italy exported goods worth €101.5 billion, registering an increase of +1.9% compared to the same period in 2024. In the same timeframe, Italy imported goods worth almost €88 billion, marking an increase of +11.6% over the first four months of 2024. The trade balance with non-EU countries for the first four months of 2025 was positive, amounting to +€13.5 billion. Excluding the energy sector (which recorded a deficit of -€17.4 billion), the trade surplus stood at +€30.9 billion.
Geographically – with data currently available only for Italy’s main non-EU trading partners – the increase in export value particularly involved the following countries/regions: OPEC countries (+14.6%), the Middle East (+13.4%), Switzerland (+13.1%), MERCOSUR countries (+11.1%), the United States (+8.4%), India (+3%), Japan (+0.4%), the United Kingdom (+0.3%), and ASEAN countries (+0.1%). By contrast, exports to Türkiye (-18%), Russia (-16.4%), and China (-10.5%) recorded a decline.
At a sectoral level – currently available only by broad commodity groups – the rise in exports was mainly driven by higher sales of non-durable consumer goods (+11.6%) and intermediate goods (+5.6%). The increase in imports was broad-based and particularly significant for durable consumer goods (+26.9%) and non-durable consumer goods (+34.5%).
NON-EU FOREIGN TRADE PERFORMANCE– APRIL 2025
Focusing on the month of April 2025 alone, compared to April 2024, Italian exports to non-EU countries declined by -2.1%. Comparing April 2025 to March 2025, Italian exports to non-EU countries decreased by -7.5%. This downturn was influenced in both cases by high-value sales of maritime navigation equipment recorded in April 2024 and March 2025. Excluding these sales, a moderate year-on-year increase is estimated in the former case (from -2.1% to +0.5%), and a smaller month-on-month decline in the latter (from -7.5% to -3.3%).
In contrast, Italian imports from non-EU countries rose by +11.4% compared to April 2024, and by +1.6% compared to March 2025. This was mainly due to increased purchases of non-durable consumer goods (respectively +61.1% and +9.4%).
