Despite the tough years of the pandemic, the energy crisis and the soaring production costs of companies, the value of exports of agri-food products knows no crisis abroad and, after the record of 2021, in the first seven months of 2022 it increases its turnover by 18% over last year.
According to the latest Ismea report “The balance of Italian agri-food“, after the important milestone of 52 billion in value in 2021, made in Italy agri-food exports continue to maintain a positive trend, in fact recording an 18% growth in first seven months of 2022, despite the many obstacles of this period.
From January to July 2022, revenues of 34.5 billion euros were collected from abroad; volume flows are growing, especially for products such as pasta, sparkling wine, baked goods, hams, cheeses and peeled tomato pulp. The only exception is fresh and processed fruit which also drops slightly in value (-0.5%). These data confirm that exports are a growth factor for Italian food&beverage. Italy is the world leader in the export of pasta and tomato preserves (where it holds a market share of 29% and 44% respectively), it is second in exports of wine (24% in sparkling wines and 21% in still wines) and extra oil – virgin olive oil (20%).
The main destination market for Italian agri-food products remains the EU which, with 16.9 billion euros in the first half of 2022, maintains around 57% of national exports. In general, Germany, the USA and France are identified as the most important partners and all with high growth rates; also for imports, the EU is Italy’s main partner with a share of 69% in the period in question, with France, Spain and Germany as the main suppliers. As regards the markets, our exports are growing both in the EU (+21%) and in third countries (+16%), in the latter thanks also to a weaker euro. Traditional markets such as Germany (+11%), USA (+21%) and France (+18%) performed well, the same as United Kingdom (+19%), a sign that at the moment the consequences of Brexit don’t have an impact on this.
Also noteworthy is the strong increase in exports to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, while only flows to China and Japan are bucking the trend.
Meats and cured meats
The meat and sausage sector maintains its position in the Italian and world economic and productive panorama. In the January-June 2022 semester, according to Statista data reported by TUTTOFOOD, exports rose to 95,006 tons (+4.1%) for a turnover of 925.6 million euros (+9.5%). The most popular products are cured ham and salami. Among the countries that have increased the import of Italian products, we have France (+9.8%), Sweden (+17.1%) and Poland (+36.9%).
The main products imported
As far as the import market is concerned, the absolute protagonists are largely unprocessed raw materials and semi-finished products. In particular, unroasted coffee, corn, extra virgin olive oil, live cattle, soft wheat, soybean, crude sunflower oil, refined palm oil were the most frequently sourced products on foreign markets and all in constant growth.
To learn more about these issues and find the right solutions both in terms of product quality and to better differentiate your offer, you can contact us through this contact form.
