There are approximately 120,000 exporting companies in Italy. Of these, over 118,000 are SMEs, accounting for 98% of the total. SMEs generate approximately 280 billion euros in exports.
Companies in Southern Italy account for nearly one-third of all Italian companies but generate less than one-tenth of the country’s manufacturing exports. This gap actually reflects untapped potential that is beginning to emerge and could grow even further. In fact, there are countless potential exporters that could be supported in entering international markets. And there is an entrepreneurial dynamism that can be measured by the share of high-growth firms, which, among manufacturing and service companies with at least 10 employees, account for 20.4% of all non-micro enterprises in the South, compared to 13.9% in the Northeast, 15.1% in the Northwest, and 17.1% in Central Italy.
This was stated by Unioncamere Secretary General Giuseppe Tripoli during his remarks at “Obiettivo Export,” the event currently taking place in Bari and promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
For too long, the South has been portrayed as a region in need of revitalization – Tripoli emphasized – Today, however, it must be viewed as a platform for growth, a logistics hub, particularly for port operations and the maritime economy, for energy, and for data flow.
The secretary general of Unioncamere noted that over the past five years, the South’s GDP has grown faster than the national average (8.6% versus 6.5%), and investment has increased thanks in part to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and the Single Special Economic Zone (ZES), to which Unioncamere has also contributed through its digital service portal. Tourism has grown. Manufacturing (from mechanical engineering to apparel) has outperformed the Central and Northern regions, and sectors such as agri-food, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and automotive are establishing an increasingly significant presence in international markets.
There is therefore enormous potential in southern Italian businesses. This is why the internationalization of the South is a national economic policy. Our surveys show that the support provided by the chamber of commerce system works – concluded Giuseppe Tripoli. – The statistics tell us that businesses assisted by the Chambers of Commerce, particularly by Promos Italia, begin exporting in one out of every three cases, and that if they are already operating internationally, they add at least one foreign market.
