Excluding energy, January saw a trade surplus of 3.566 billion euros, up from 1.095 billion the year before, ISTAT said in a note.
On a month-on-month basis, imports saw a 3.2% drop, the biggest since the start of the series in 2005, due to a strong decline in the cost of energy products.
Compared with the same month of 2022, exports rose 15.3% in value terms and 2.4% in volumes.
The increase in volumes was driven by energy and
non-durable consumer goods which rose 8.5% and 14.6%
respectively.
In value terms Italy saw a surge in exports to China,
which grew 137.5% year-on-year, partly due to strong sales of
pharmaceutical, chemical-medicinal and botanical goods. Exports
also rose significantly towards Turkey, with a jump of 48.2%.
($1 = 0.9416 euros)
(Reporting by Luca Fratangelo, Romolo Tosiani, Chiara
Bontacchio editing by Gavin Jones)