The ANNOTICO Report

Italy ships almost THREE Times as many goods to the US as Italy needs from the US.

That initially surprised me. Then I thought , what can US offer us that Italy can't get from a neighbor, and how is the US going to be Fashionable without Italy??

Here, this week, on it's world tour, The Arizona Republic newspaper  focuses on Italy.

==================================================================================================================
World focus: Italy
Arizona Republic
Mar. 20, 2005 12:00 AM
Italy
 

With a large population and a high per capita income, Italy is one of the United States' most important trade partners. In 2004, the United States was the fourth-largest foreign supplier of the Italian market (with a market share of 3.6 percent) and the largest supplier outside the European Union. Total trade between the United States and Italy exceeded $38 billion in 2004. The United States ran a $17.4 billion deficit with Italy.

Geography: Italy, in southern Europe, is a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea northeast of Tunisia. It is slightly larger than Arizona and is bordered by France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Demographics: About 58 million people live in Italy (July 2004 estimate). The primary language is Italian, with German, French and Slovene spoken in small areas of the country.

Gross domestic product: $26,700! per person in 2003. (U.S. estimated per capita GDP in 2004, $37,800.)

Business climate: Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the same total and per capita output as France and the United Kingdom. The economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed, welfare-dependent agricultural south with 20 percent unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75 percent of energy requirements are imported.

Arizona connection: Italy ranks as Arizona's 22nd-largest export market, with $97.3 million worth of goods shipped there in 2004. Transportation equipment, computers and electronic equipment led the exports. Other products Arizona exports to Italy include machinery, fabricated metal products, appliances and processed foods. The state's exports peaked in 2001 at $155.6 million and then fell off during the next two years. Last year's exports to Italy grew by ! $13 million from 2003.

Trade with United States: During 2004, the United States imported about $28 billion in Italian goods while exporting about $11 billion in U.S. goods to Italy. U.S. foreign direct investments in Italy at the end of 2003 totaled $30.4 billion; the amount of Italian investments in the United States reached $6.7 billion.

Best sales prospects: Aircraft, pharmaceuticals, machinery, energy products, paper products and medical equipment.

Recent headlines: Italy is one of the Bush administration's closest allies in Europe, having sent troops to Iraq. That relationship was strained recently when U.S. troops killed an Italian security officer who was escorting an Italian journalist who had been freed by kidnappers.

- Italyemb.org, CIA World Factbook, TradeStates Express, CNN.com

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0320biz-countryprofile20.html