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06 August 2020 Slows, but remains solid, the pace with which the Italian industry is restarting its engines after the stop caused by the lockdown put in place to curb the Coronavirus. In June, Istat certifies that industrial production, while remaining far from pre-Covid levels, saw "a monthly increase, net of seasonality, of 8.2%, which follows the exceptional one recorded in May (+41 , 6%). "

The growth, adds the statistics institute, is transversal to the various sectors: "all sectors are growing cyclically, with the exception of the production of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations, which are slightly down".

Still below pre-crisis levels 
However, there is still a long way to go, given that in the second quarter, mainly due to the month of April, the only one completely in 'lockdown', industrial production excluding construction fell by 17.5% in economic terms. "Although recovering, production levels are still far from those prevailing before the measures related to the health emergency; compared to January, production is lower, net of seasonal factors, by more than 13 percentage points", underlines the monthly report of the Istat.

Clouds 
Despite favorable numbers, however, there are still negative aspects that Istat points out, such as that on hours worked, which are still below the levels before the pandemic. A recovery process started in May, which strengthened in June, but overall, on this front too, progress is not enough. "The improvement in the last two months has therefore not allowed to fully recover the gap between March and April. The levels of hours actually worked per capita are still lower than in February (-3.4 hours for the total, -2.9 for employees and -5.2 for self-employed people) ", highlights the study.

Another sore point is 'asymmetry' in the evolution of the pandemic, which weighs on world trade, crucial for an exporting country like Italy. "The international scenario in recent weeks has been characterized to some extent by an asynchrony of the evolution of the pandemic between countries which has further penalized the recovery of world trade", concludes Istat, which however highlights that "foreign trade of the Italy showed a recovery in both exports and, to a lesser extent, imports ".