Italy’s trade surplus narrowed to €1.77 billion in August 2026, from €1.88 billion a year earlier, falling well short of market expectations of €7.5 billion. This was the smallest surplus since January, as imports grew faster than exports.
Imports increased 9.7% year-on-year to €40.3 billion, driven by substantial rises in purchases of crude oil (44.3%), natural gas (49.2%), and coke and refined petroleum products (56.5%). Import growth was markedly stronger from non-EU markets (17.3%)—notably from OPEC countries (54.6%) and India (116.5%)—than from EU markets (3.2%), where Belgium (19.2%) and Spain (13.8%) posted the largest gains.
Exports rose 9% to €42.1 billion, supported by higher sales of basic metals and fabricated metal products, excluding machinery and equipment (26.5%), coke and refined petroleum products (55.4%), and motor vehicles (55.8%). As with imports, export growth was stronger toward non-EU markets (16.7%), led by Switzerland (57.1%) and China (32.7%), than toward EU markets (1.6%).