Italian exports climbed 8% last year, over 2006, with a 6.1% increase towards European Union markets and an 11.1% jump towards those outside the EU, national statistics bureau Istat reported on Thursday.
The increase in exports from the islands of Sicily and Sardinia were almost double the national average, +15.7%, while those for the south and northwest were also above average, +9.9% and +8.2%, respectively.
Exports from central Italy and the northeast rose by 7.3% and 7.2% respectively.
The northwest region of Valle d'Aosta recorded the greatest leap in exports, +47.6%, while Lombardy remained the region which exported the most, accounting for 28% of all Italian exports.
The southern regions of Calabria and Basilicata came in second and third for increased exports in 2007, 30.1% and 21.7%, respectively, followed by Sicily with +19.8% and then Abruzzo and Campania, with increases above the national average of +11.8% and 10.9% respectively.
