Italy’s export slows in April due to maritime sector drag, pharma remains key growth driver

In April 2025, Italy’s foreign trade performance showed signs of weakening, mainly due to extraordinary maritime sales recorded in previous months. According to ISTAT, exports fell by 2.8% month-on-month, while imports edged up 0.3%.

Stripping out the impact of large marine vessel sales registered in March 2025 and April 2024, the monthly drop in exports would have been much smaller (-0.6%) and the annual growth stronger (+1.7%).

On an annual basis, exports rose by 0.4% in value but fell 3.7% in volume, while imports increased 5.4% in value and 1.4% in volume. In the first four months of 2025, exports grew by 2.5% compared to the same period in 2024, though the trade surplus narrowed to €11.3 billion, down from €17.6 billion a year earlier.

Sector-wise, pharmaceuticals remain the key growth driver, with exports up 30.1% year-on-year (mainly to the US, Switzerland, Spain, and France) and imports up 76.9% (primarily from China and the US). By contrast, sales of transport equipment excluding motor vehicles dropped 17.1%, refined petroleum products fell 31.1%, and car exports declined 9.3%.

Among destination countries, Switzerland (+18.9%) and Spain (+14.3%) provided the largest positive contributions to export growth, while the UK (-18.8%), Turkey (-18.2%) and the Netherlands (-8.7%) weighed negatively.

Italy’s trade balance for April stood at +€2.48 billion, lower than the +€4.83 billion surplus recorded a year earlier. The energy trade deficit widened to -€4.25 billion (from -€3.79 billion). Meanwhile, the non-energy surplus shrank to €6.73 billion from €8.62 billion a year ago.

Import prices continued to decline, dropping 1.2% month-on-month and 1.5% year-on-year, driven primarily by falling energy prices.