The OECD said in a report on Wednesday that global trade in fake Italian goods such as luxury handbags, watches, foodstuffs and car parts is costing Italy's economy the equivalent of 1-2% of GDP in terms of lost sales.
"Trade in counterfeit goods and the Italian economy estimates the total value of counterfeit and pirated Italian goods sold worldwide at over 35 billion euros for 2013, equivalent to 4.9% of global Italian manufacturing sales," the OECD said.
"This resulted in over 25 billion euros in lost sales by Italian companies in a year when Italy's GDP was 1.6 trillion euros".
The highest losses in sales in 2013 were for high-tech electronic, electrical and optical products, followed by clothing, footwear, leather and related products, the OECD said.
In terms of market share, the biggest losses were in the watch and jewellery sector, where the counterfeit market caused a 7.5% loss in sales.
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