Italy properties - A southern conduit

It is a parochial market, unwilling to allow the kind of transparency which will put it on the European stage. Italy is characterised by being the country with the least outsourcing in its logistics industry in the whole of Europe, according to research company Datamonitor. Some 20 per cent of logistics is outsourced in Italy, compared to the European outsourcing leader the UK at 45 per cent. In 2006, the European Commission said Italy had the second highest density of small-to-medium-sized enterprises after the Czech republic. It has about an eight per cent cash share of both the European imports and exports markets. Exports per capita in 2006 were €6.3 million, putting the country on a par with Spain and a little lower than Lithuania, according to research company Experian. Imports per capita in 2006 were also €6.3 million, about the same as Bulgaria and Portugal.