Italian foreign trade surplus narrows in August, import price index falls

Italian exports came in stable in August, whereas imports rose in the month. On a seasonally adjusted basis, imports rose 1.8 percent. For non-EU nations, exports rose 0.6 percent, whereas for EU nations exports dropped 0.4 percent. Imports rose 3.5 percent for EU nations and dropped 0.6 percent for non EU countries. In the last three months, seasonally adjusted data, compared to the previous three months, rose for exports and fell for imports.

On a year-on-year basis, exports dropped 3.4 percent, while imports fell 4.1 percent. Exports for EU nations dropped 5.2 percent and 1.4 percent for non EU nations. Meanwhile, imports for non EU area and EU area dropped 6.2 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. The trade balance came in at a surplus of EUR 2.58 billion in August, narrowing from EUR 7.631 billion.

Meanwhile, the total import prices index dropped 0.7 percent sequentially. On a year-on-year basis, the index fell 2.5 percent. The quarterly total index of import prices dropped 1.3 percent compared to the previous period.