Italy’s Top Products in World Trade. The Fortis-Corradini Index

Abstract

This chapter analyzes Italy’s external competitiveness in detail and introduces a new index, devised by Marco Fortis and Stefano Corradini for Fondazione Edison, that highlights the strengths of Italy’s foreign trade. Compared with the Trade Performance Index compiled and updated annually by UNCTAD/WTO’s International Trade Centre, the Fortis-Corradini Index (FCI) provides greater sectorial detail by referring to 5117 products identified according to the six-digit HS 1996 international classification available on the UN Comtrade database. The new index confirms that, contrary to widespread opinion, Italy is one of the world’s most competitive countries, with an extraordinary position of leadership in world trade. Thus, according to the FCI, for 932 products Italy was either first, second or third worldwide in terms of foreign trade surplus in 2012. Furthermore, the FCI reveals, for example, that only three countries (China, Germany and the United States) surpassed Italy in 2012 in terms of the number of first, second and third places in their trade balance worldwide. In presenting the FCI and meticulous statistical data, this highly original study will be of wide interest.

This chapter is a revised and partly updated version of: Fortis et al. (2015).

Appendix

See Tables 1.12, 1.13, 1.14 and 1.15.

Table 1.12 Products in which Italy holds first place in the world trade balance: year 2012

Table 1.13 Products in which Italy holds second place in the world trade balance: year 2012

Table 1.14 Products in which Italy holds third place in the world trade balance: year 2012

Table 1.15 Trade balance: the 1235 products in which Italy beats Germany: year 2012