Agri-food, Del Bravo (Ismea): “The import-export sector is recovering”

“The exports and imports of the agri-food sector are recovering”. Fabio Del Bravo, head of Ismea market services, says this in an interview with Adnkronos / Labitalia. “Exports – he underlines – thanks to the momentum of March (+ 10.6%, after -4.7% in January and 0.4% in February) means that the first quarter of 2021 is in the 2nd 2% above the level of the same period last year, when Italy had not yet been completely overwhelmed by the global socio-health emergency. The trend towards recovery of shipments abroad is then further strengthened also in April, which recorded an increase in value of 22.3% on an annual basis ”. “The data on the recovery of imports – he points out – also reveals the trend reversal underway. Italy is notoriously a country that imports raw materials and exports processed products. In this sense, the rebound in imports of 12% again in March, after the declines of 2020 and the first two months of 2021, indicates a recovery in industrial activity and orders from abroad. This strong positive sign in March shows a rebound in the food industry transformation activity which, in the first 5 months of the year, marks more than + 3% of the industrial production index ”.