The export of “Made in Italy” products continues to break consecutive records and excels across Europe. Recently, Prometeia raised its 2021 Italian GDP growth forecast to +5.3%. Furthermore, current data from Istat and Eurostat showed a 23.9% increase in exports during the first five months of the year.
This remarkable performance compares to increases of only 15.6% for Germany and 15.9% for France. Consequently, Italy is currently leading our main competitors in the European export championship. This trend is not just a simple rebound from 2020. Instead, it represents a constant improvement in our foreign trade since 2015.
This success stems from strategic structural reforms and economic policies that positively impacted our competitiveness and productivity. Moving forward, these measures will continue to play a decisive role in our post-Covid recovery.
The Impact of the Industry 4.0 Plan
Among these initiatives, the “Industry 4.0” Plan delivered the most significant results. This strategy allowed the Italian manufacturing industry to strengthen and modernize. As a result, Italy ranked first among G7 nations for value-added and labor productivity growth from 2015 onwards. The plan also boosted Made in Italy exports, outclassing even Germany’s performance.
Such unprecedented results never occurred in the fifteen years preceding the Euro era. Therefore, they challenge the narrative that Italy is doomed to economic decline. Few analysts realized that the stimuli of the Industry 4.0 Plan heavily transformed our productive fabric. In fact, gross fixed investments in Italian manufacturing grew in real terms by an annual average of 6.1% during the 2015-2018 period.
Some regions experienced even higher surges. Veneto and Puglia saw average annual peaks of 8%, Lazio reached 8.6%, and Campania hit 10.5%. Ultimately, this investment wave triggered a significant leap forward in our competitiveness, driving aggressive export growth.
If we compare the first five months of 2015 with the same period in 2021, Italian exports increased in value by over 35 billion euros. This represents a 20.9% growth rate, which is higher than Germany’s performance and significantly above France’s disappointing +13.7%. In other words, for six years, Made in Italy has proven much more competitive than both Made in France and Made in Germany.
Sector-by-Sector Performance
Several Italian sectors benefited immensely from these reforms. Over the last six years, their growth during the January-May period surpassed the average of German exports. The top-performing sectors include:
The rest of our traditional sectors also performed as well as, or better than, German exports. The only exception was the textile-clothing-leather-footwear sector, which suffered deeply from the pandemic-driven drop in consumption. Specifically, ceramics grew by 14.3% (+589 million euros), while furniture exports increased by 17.9%.
Another crucial element is the export growth in the first quarter of this year. Exports to China marked a stunning +55.3% compared to the same period in 2020. European destinations followed this positive trend closely:
Trade toward the United Kingdom showed a slower trend at +2.6%. However, the massive accumulation of pre-Brexit stocks likely represents a temporary, transitory reason for this slowdown.
According to Agenzia ICE, the prospects for a recovery in world trade remain solid. The latest edition of their report reviews the Ice-Prometeia estimate on world imports, forecasting growth up to +8.9% for this year and +6.4% for 2022 at constant prices. Consequently, these figures confirm a full recovery to pre-Covid levels by the end of the year.
Source: WEB
