Foreign trade exports have constituted the true propeller of our regional productive system even in the course of 2013. Looking beyond the aggregate data, which is negatively affected by precious metal trends, we find many sectors which performed well. In some cases, this proves that the development path started many years ago is still running, even though it had to go through the harsh phases of this protracted crisis. In other cases, it shows there are positive signs of dynamism in the productive system, confirming that some firms from basically all manufacturing sectors managed to regain strength and stand out to conquer foreign markets.
The weakness of the US dollar as compared to the European currency partially affected Tuscan firms, which did increase sales in the North American market but could not repeat the extraordinary results obtained over the previous two years; all things considered, the strength of Euro did not seem to have effect on distant markets such as those of Middle East or Asia. Rather, the main problem in terms of regional sales must be traced in the little demand from European consumers, which can only be faced by seeking new, more dynamic final markets.
Autore: Leonardo Ghezzi con la collaborazione di Tommaso Ferraresi e Stefano Rosignoli
