Around the world, Italy’s famous brands such as Armani, Valentino, Versace, Benetton, Prada, FIAT, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Lamborghini have created a niche in the global marketplace where there is a demand for high quality and superior goods.
The 2008 recession decreased Italy's global trade volumes significantly. Its export volumes decreased from $546.9 billion in 2008 to $369 billion in 2010. However, the country's economy remained relatively strong and ranked 8th in the world for export volumes.
The main exported commodities include:
Engineering products
Textiles and clothing
Production machinery
Motor vehicles
Transport equipment
Chemicals
Food
Beverages and tobacco
Minerals and nonferrous metals
Italy’s main export partners are:
Germany
France
Spain
US
UK
The graph below shows how the different partners contributed to the total volume (in percentage):

Italy's imports dipped as well following the 2008 recession. The figures dropped from $546.9 billion in 2008 to $358.7 billion in 2010.
Italy imports the following commodities:
Engineering products
Chemicals
Transport equipment
Energy products
Minerals and nonferrous metals
Textiles and clothing
Food and Beverages
Tobacco
Italy’s main imports partners are:
Germany
France
China
Netherlands
Libya
Russia
Italy has a high volume of energy production in its industry sector. Italy exports 3.431 billion kWh of electricity and 667,100 bbl/day of oil and 210 million cu m of natural gas. Through increased energy production, Italy’s trade balance has come down from $78.03 billion in 2008 to $55.44 billion in 2010.
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