Italian cheese exports grow strong

Source: FOOD

According to Assolatte and Confcooperative Fedagripesca, the two great Italian PDOs - Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano - drive the growth in sales abroad: +13.7%.

In a period characterized by strong inflation and equally strong geopolitical tensions capable of influencing global markets, the export of Italian cheeses not only consolidates its positions, but achieves double-digit growth. From January to October 2023, in fact, dairy sales abroad reached 4.1 billion euros: the progression is 13.7% compared to the same period of the previous year, and if only the European market is considered, the The increase is 15.8% (source: Confcooperative Fedagripesca processing on Istat data).

Fresh cheeses, grated cheeses and the two PDOs Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano continue to be the driving force in volume, recording growth of +12.5%, +7.7% and +5.5% respectively.

BOOM FOR EXPORTS TO CHINA AND MIDDLE EAST

Sales of Italian cheeses outside the Old Continent are worth around a third of national exports. Here too there is a positive trend and, according to Assolatte's calculations, in the month of November 2023 approximately 15,270 tonnes of cheeses were sold (+3.2%) for over 141 million euros.

“The growth rate is positively influenced by the sales of national cheeses in the USA, with an increase in sales of almost 200 tonnes (+6.1%), and in China, which, with +63.8%, leads the ranking of November's volume growth,” reveals the association. The Middle East area also performed well, where Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates achieved +47% and +23% respectively. Even in Ukraine, against all expectations, Italian exports grew by 35%.

JAPAN AND AUSTRALIA ARE SLOWING DOWN

Good performance and recovery for the United Kingdom (+3.3%): despite Brexit, in fact, with over 3,300 tonnes the country across the Channel is the first non-EU destination for our products, followed closely by the United States , where 60% of the volumes, as per tradition, are made up of our great hard cheeses: Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino. Lackluster results, however, for Japan and Australia (-15% and -16%), while South Korea is still struggling (-1.8%).

"The performance gives us a 2023 marked by a new export record inside and outside the single market – comments Paolo Zanetti, President of Assolatte –. We expect to reach foreign sales above or in any case very close to 600,000 tonnes, for a value of around 5 billion, with a growth in the trade balance of around 20%: goals that were unthinkable until a few years ago. In November, however, we recorded a figure that goes against the trend, which should be kept under observation. The average value of our products , which still remains higher than the global one, is decreasing, a sign of a return to inflation but also of a loss of value of our supply chain on the international scene".