Export avanti (+4,7%) anche a luglio. Boom di acquisti di auto dalla Cina

The export of Italian goods continued to grow in July, with an increase of 4.7%, surpassing the 9.8% growth seen in June. The surge in exports was particularly notable among countries outside the European Union, with a 6.6% rise, compared to a 2.7% increase in Europe. Key partners such as Germany and France saw a strong growth in purchases, while the United States saw a slight decrease in imports.

In July, China contributed 27 points to the export growth, with pharmaceutical sales nearly quadrupling in the month and nearly tripling since the beginning of the year. In contrast, the Middle East experienced a 10.7% increase in China purchases, despite a deficit of over 10% since the start of the year due to the Iran war. Istat noted that the increase in transportation vehicle sales, excluding cars and metal products, excluding machinery and plants, contributed 2.0 percentage points to the overall export growth trend when shipped to Switzerland.

Additionally, a 1.2 percentage point positive contribution came from higher exports of pharmaceuticals, chemical-medical and botanical products to the United States and China. By the end of the first seven months of 2026, the export growth trend stood at 4.6%, totaling 402 billion euros. Some trends seen in recent months continued to slow, such as the "base metals" export to Switzerland; while it had tripled in the first half-year, reaching nearly ten billion euros, growth slowed to 29% in July.

Switzerland remained the country with the broadest Italian export growth, thanks to the transportation vehicle surge, with a nearly 40-point increase. Meanwhile, Chinese auto purchases continued to grow month after month, with a 42% increase in July and a more than doubling over the seven months, with 2.4 billion imported vehicles, surpassing 15% of the total.

The July 2026 trade balance was +8,240 million euros (up from +7,829 million in July 2025). The energy deficit (-5,515 million) was higher than the previous year (-4,117 million). Non-energy product trade surplus increased from +11,947 million in July 2025 to +13,756 million in July 2026. In July, the economy forecast a modest growth in exports (+0.3%) and a decrease in imports (-1.2%).

Monthly export growth was driven by an increase in sales to the extra-EU area (+6.9%) and a reduction in sales to the EU area (-5.6%).