Italy's imports from outside the European Union (EU) continue to grow as the country's economy emerges from the coronavirus crisis, and the same applies to its exports of consumer goods, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
However, the energy export figures are down, the country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said.
Imports from non-EU trading partners increased 6.5 percent in August month-on-month, and nearly 40 percent compared to a year earlier, according to the ISTAT.
In August, the volume of goods purchased from China grew 42.5 percent, and the respective figures were 51.0 percent for Turkey and 37.4 percent for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In contrast, imports from the United Kingdom dipped nearly ten percent.
Italy's exports were down five percent in August compared to July but were still 15.7 percent higher than a year earlier.
In August, the main sectors weighing on Italy's exports were energy (down 17.6 percent) and capital goods ( down 19.8 percent). Exports of durable and non-durable consumer goods rose 1.3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, while those of intermediate goods grew 10.8 percent.
Italy's exports increased to the OPEC countries (16.4 percent), the United States (16.9 percent), China (13.1 percent) and Turkey (14.4 percent), and decreased to Japan (3.3 percent) and Switzerland (1.3 percent).