La Repubblica (29/07/2008 - Italian newspaper)

The article dates back to July, but we think it is worth it to be published.  
According to the UN and the WTO, the Italian industry comes second only to Germany.
An outline of an industry strong abroad, but weak on the domestic market.
Read here below the free translation or download the Italian original file.

---

ROMA __ As a competitor Italy is a winner. Not relegated to the second division. On the contrary, at a worldwide level it comes second only to Germany. We needed an official certificate to get rid of the image of decline. Now we have one, taken in synthesis from a little known index elaborated by the UN (Unctad) and the WTO. This is called the TPI (Trade Performance Index), and it places our country at the top end of the world classification of best nations in terms of foreign trade. A surprise? “We deserve some satisfaction, after so much unjustified self-pity”, says Marco Fortis, professor of industrial economy at the Università Cattolica of Milan and author of a dossier to be published by the Edison Foundation in the August edition of Quaderno. “In recent years we have experienced a paradoxical situation – he explains – where our industry is highly successful on international markets, but struggles on the internal market.”

A contradiction that has engendered merciless classification lists – the indexes of the Lausanne IMD or the World Economic Forum – which placed Italy behind Zimbabwe or Bulgaria. “There has been confusion between attractiveness and competitiveness”, explains Fortis. In other words, it may be true that Italy is not attractive, seen from abroad: bureaucracy, crime, high labour costs, stagnation in consumption, all discourage investment, and in this respect we come a long way back in the field. But not in exports (20% of our GDP). On the contrary, our foreign trade confirms the excellence of the Italian economy. The four sectors of clothing, furnishing, foodstuffs and machinery – the most highly esteemed abroad – on their own accumulate a surplus (113 billion in 2007) that almost entirely compensates for the historical deficit (120 billion) in import-dependent sectors, such as energy, automobiles (especially luxury cars), pharmaceutical chemistry, electronics, and raw materials.


“Nothing surprising, we’ve said so before”, says Giuseppe Morandini, vice-president of the Italian Manufacturers Association. “We know all too well the sacrifices that have been made in recent years in order to maintain market standings and come up with new ideas every day. We know all about our collaborators’ efforts to support their brands worldwide.”

In this sense even the local derby between Italy and Spain deflates. The Spanish inflated their GDP with infrastructure figures. But now its building industry is collapsing. Just as the US placed its bets on Internet and mortgages. “They grew in bubbles”, sums up Fortis. With the result that in the new TPI index they’re out of the top ten again. And in distinguished company: as well as Spain and the US, out go UK, India, China and Brazil. Countries that gallop ahead in terms of wealth produced (GDP growth in double figures, while Italy’s is virtually at zero), but who depend on “green petrol”, agricultural resources (Brazil’s soya and sugar cane), services (India’s call centres and Bollywood). “Luckily, our industries have not stopped doing what they do best”, sighs Fortis. There’s the North-South gap to be narrowed, families to be cheered up, the internal market to be revived. “But we’re under alert abroad too, – warns Morandini – it’s hard going with prices sky high and unfavourable exchange rates, beyond our control. Our companies have produced ideas and margins. Now we need responses and support from our national system.”