Italian industrial turnover, orders shoot up in January

'Foreign markets driving growth' says Istat

(ANSA) - Rome, March 21 - Industrial turnover in Italy was up 3% in January, marking the strongest growth since December 2011, the national statistics agency said Friday.

Driving the growth were sales abroad, Istat added. Turnover was also positive in December, up 1.2%. Italian industrial orders also shot up in January, by 2.6% on the year, Istat said. Compared to December, orders were up 4.8%, marking the sharpest increase since December 2010. Once again, foreign markets drove the spike, Istat said.