Italy posts foreign trade deficit for June

ROME, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Italy's trade balance with non-European Union (EU) countries took a dramatic swing into negative territory in 2021, pushed by skyrocketing energy prices, the country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Thursday.

In June, imports from non-EU countries increased by 8.6 percent compared to the previous month, while exports contracted by 1.5 percent.

Exports in June were 21.0 percent higher than a year earlier. In May, the year-on-year increase was 26.1 percent.

The increase in imports was directly or indirectly related to energy costs. ISTAT said that the value of energy imports in June was 147.6 percent higher than in the same month in 2021.

Overall, the country's energy deficit -- the value of the energy it imports minus the amount it exports -- swelled to 9.08 billion euros (9.17 billion U.S. dollars) in June, compared to 2.73 billion euros a year earlier. The higher energy bill was due mostly to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has resulted in energy supply disruptions and has sent global energy prices higher.

This swing in the energy deficit pushed the country's overall trade balance into deficit territory: in June, the country's overall trade deficit stood at 2.82 billion euros compared to a surplus of 4.80 billion euros a year earlier. But ISTAT said the trade balance excluding energy remained strong, growing by more than 20 percent last year. (1 euro = 1.02 U.S. dollars)