In June 2026, Italy’s trade with countries outside the European Union will move at two speeds. Exports slow down on a monthly basis, but imports continue to rise, driven mainly by energy purchases. This is what emerges from the latest data released by Istat on trade with non-EU countries.
The economic situation
In June, exports to non-EU markets recorded a cyclical decline of 4%, while imports grew by 1.3%. A figure that must be read with a clarification: the contraction is partly affected by the sales of maritime navigation vehicles recorded in May 2026 and June 2025. These are high-value operations that tend to influence the monthly comparison. By removing this effect from the data, the reduction is significantly reduced, going from 4% to 2.4%.
In particular, the following are weighing on the decline in exports:
- energy: -17.8%;
- capital goods: -5.3%;
- non-durable consumer goods: -4.3%;
- intermediate goods: -2.2%;
- durable consumer goods: +6%.
On the import front, the monthly increase is instead driven by greater purchases of:
- non-durable consumer goods (+16.1%);
- intermediate goods (+5.5%);
- durable consumer goods (+1.8%).
Comparison with last year
On an annual basis, non-EU exports grew by 3.6%, a marked slowdown compared to the +6.8% recorded in May. The effect of sales of naval vessels weighs heavily here too; net of this component, the trend growth would rise to 5.4%. The sectors that push the most are intermediate goods (+20.7%) and energy (+54.9%), while sales of capital goods decline (-8.7%).
Imports, on the other hand, show a much more sustained trend: +18.5%, a general increase across all the main sectors, with energy (+31.9%) and intermediate goods (+23.7%) at the forefront.
A weaker export and a stronger import is consequently reflected in the trade balance. In June 2026, the surplus with non-EU countries drops to 2,550 million euros, compared to 5,478 million in the same month of 2025. The cause is the widening of the energy deficit, which went from 3,880 to 4,979 million euros. The surplus on non-energy products, while remaining positive, reduced from 9,358 to 7,528 million.
Where exports and imports grow
On the export front, in June sales grew on an annual basis towards:
- China: +19.1%;
- Türkiye: +10.8%;
- Switzerland: +10.5%;
- Mercosur: +4.4%;
- United States: +0.4%;
- United Kingdom: -10.5%;
- Japan: -4.5%;
- ASEAN countries: -2.5%;
On the import side, the most marked increase concerns purchases from:
- OPEC: +47.8%;
- Mercosur: +30.3%;
- ASEAN countries: +29.9%;
- Switzerland: +23.2%;
- China: +20.5%;
- United Kingdom: +16.1%;
- United States: +14.6%;
- India: +11.1%;
- Türkiye: +7.3%.
The United States remains the largest trading partner
Looking at the main non-EU trading partners for Italy in June 2026, the United States is largely in the lead, followed by Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
- United States: +2,430 million euros;
- Switzerland: +2,042 million euros;
- United Kingdom: +1,465 million euros;
- Türkiye: -17 million euros;
- Mercosur: -188 million euros;
- India: -250 million euros;
- Asean: -572 million euros;
- OPEC: -728 million euros;
- China: -4,614 million euros.
The first half of 2026
Looking at the first six months of the year as a whole, exports to non-EU countries grew by 4.3% (+3.9% net of energy), a slower pace than that of imports, which rose by 5.5%. The result is a trade surplus of 24.1 billion euros, substantially stable compared to the 24.5 billion in the same period of 2025.
The next update on non-EU foreign trade data is scheduled by Istat for 28 September 2026.
