CAMPANIA - Economy
The services sector makes up for 78% of the region's gross domestic product. There has been a steady rise in the tourist sector in the last years, although the number of both Italian and foreign tourists (11 569 000 and 9 064 000) fell in 2002. This fall has however been registered in the whole of Italy, and has been balanced by a rise in the number of passengers leaving the port of Naples on cruise vessels.
The region made up for around 6.4% of Italy's gross domestic product, whereas the population represents 10% of the total. The gross domestic product per capita is one of the lowest in Italy and corresponds to around 65% of the EU average.
The agro-food industry
The agro-food industry is one of the main pillars of industry of Campania. The organisation of the sector is improving and leading to higher levels of quality and salaries.
Campania mainly produces fruit and vegetables, but has also expanded its production of flowers grown in greenhouse, becoming one of the leading regions of the sector in Italy. The value added of this sector represents around 6.5% of the total value added of the region, equalling 213.7 billion EUR in 2002. Campania produces, furthermore, over 50% of Italy's nuts and is also the leader in the production of tomatoes, which reaches 1.5 million tonnes a year.
A weak point however for the region's agriculture is the very reduced size of farms, equal to 3.53 hectares.
Animal breeding is widespread (it was done in 70 278 farms in 2000) and the milk produced is used to process typical products such as 'mozzarella'.
Olive trees cover over 74 604 hectares of the agricultural land and contribute by 620.6 billion EUR to the value added of agriculture, together with the production of fruit. Wine production has increased, together with the quality of the wine.
Retail trade maintains a central role within the services sector, although the number of supermarkets is increasing.
Transport
Campania has a rich network of roads and motorways, two ports (Naples and Salerno) and an airport (Napoli Capodichino) which guarantee fast connections with the rest of the country. The railway service will become a strategic junction in the future high-speed network.
Trade
The value of exports has fallen sharply in 2002 (-6.5%), due to the fall in exports of the car sector, as well as the textile and clothing sectors, which are typical products of Campania.
Campania's products, which in the past were destined mostly to European countries, are now increasingly destined to other countries. In particular, in the last years exports to the United States have increased, the latter becoming the greatest importer of Campania's products, and especially of food and drink products and of transport means.
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