Food exports in Italy exceeded imports for the first time in "recent history" last year, when global food markets were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the country's main agriculture federation said Thursday.

Data released by Coldiretti showed that Italy's agricultural and food exports last year rose 1.7 percent to a record high of 46.1 billion euros (54.4 billion U.S. dollars), while imports sank to 43 billion euros. It was the first time agricultural and food exports outnumbered imports since such records have been kept.