(ANSA) - Rome, December 16 - Italy showed a small increase in exports in October compared with the same month one year earlier, while imports fell by 4.3%, the national statistical agency reported on Monday. According to Istat, in October Italian exports increased by 0.8% on an annual basis, due to sales outside of Europe, but fell by 0.5% compared with the previous month. Compared to September 2013, imports in October were down by 2.6%. Italy reported an overall trade surplus of 4.1 billion euros in October which may be due to the deep recession that has driven down demand for imported goods. In the first 10 months of the year, Italy reported a trade surplus of 23.7 billion euros, with 9.5 billion euros of that surplus from trade within Europe.