Italian exports increase 2 pct annually in December: statistics

ROME, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Italian exports registered a 2 percent increase in December compared to the same month of the previous year, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Thursday.

Outgoing flows towards EU countries rose more (2.1 percent), compared to those towards non-EU markets (1.8 percent) annually.

Meanwhile, imports rose by 3.7 percent annually in the same period. As for imports, the growth was due to an increase in the EU area (7.4 percent), while non-EU areas decreased by 1.7 percent, according to ISTAT.

On a monthly basis, seasonally adjusted data showed a 0.6 percent rise in exports, and a 3.3 percent rise in incoming flows against November.

ISTAT also considered the 2017 annual trend in its report: exports grew by 7.4 percent in value and 3.1 percent in volume compared to 2016, while imports increased by 9 percent in value and 2.6 percent in volume.

In terms of markets, sales abroad in 2017 increased especially towards China (22.2 percent), Russia (19.3 percent) and Spain (10.2 percent).

The industrial sectors boosting exports most in 2017 were pharmaceutical, medical, and botanic products (16 percent). Enditem