The Consortium of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena celebrates its first thirty years and during a ceremony at Palazzo Ducale in Modena, he addressed the problem of the prospects for the protection and evolution of the PDO and PGI product system, emphasizing the need to create networking and significant alliances and to provide governance systems suited to the complexity of this ecosystem. With this aim it was announced the birth of a second level Consortium between the two realities of the PGI and the DOP through which the two entities will work together for the good of the products and the territory.
Il Governor of the Emilia Romagna Region Stefano Bonaccini, intervened reiterating how the presence and action of the Consortium ofBalsamic Vinegar of Modena have made an essential contribution to the great growth of the international reputation of the Modena area and throughout the region: “We are the Region with the most PDO and PGI brands in Europe: a primacy that we want to consolidate, standing by the side of companies that continue to invest in the quality and excellence of their products with competence and passion. The Consortium's experience is doubly happy: in these thirty years it has been able to enhance a product that is unique in the world and has demonstrated how getting together and working side by side is the winning way to compete on international markets”.
Established in 1993 with just 12 producers, today grown exponentially to 49 members, the Consortium of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena has always followed the path of protection and promotion, as well as the enhancement of this excellent Made in Italy product, to which we can certainly ascribe the merit of having increased not only the economic well-being of the territory but also the social one, creating jobs and making its productive fabric, i.e. the vinegar cellars, even a tourist driver.
First ambassador of Made in Italy for export and in the top five of Italian DOP and IGP food specialties
"Today we celebrate a success that no one would have ever imagined thirty years ago - underlines the President of the Consortium for the Protection of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena Mariangela Grosoli - and which has translated into an important value for our territory and for the international reputation of Modena as a symbol of agri-food excellence. I am therefore proud and proud to be able to share this moment with those who have always believed in the potential of the Consortium and of the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and who, with their professionalism and passion, have contributed to the development of the whole sector”. Along the same lines the Mayor of Modena Gian Carlo Muzzarelli: "The Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is an identifying element of our territory, part of the city's not only gastronomic history (think of the development of the tradition that is due to the Este family). Its own sales in Italy and around the world are a promotion of our city, Modena, whose name it bears. In this sense, the thirtieth anniversary of the Consortium marks an important deadline and the consolidation of its protection. One of the fundamental points of the tourist renaissance of our city and of the entire provincial territory is, after all, linked to Modena's food and wine”.
Il success of the product at an international level, first in Europe among DOP and IGP products for export numbers – it has been observed – made it become a particularly imitated product; among the most emblematic cases of legal emergency that the Consortium has had to face in recent years are those involving Slovenia and Cyprus.
In 2021, over 100 million liters and over one billion euros in consumption
In 2021, the sector reached its all-time record, with certified production exceeding 100 million liters and over one billion euros in consumption; figures that in 2022 stood at – 5% due to the global economic repercussions. 92% of the production of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is exported: today the product is marketed in 130 different countries. The world of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena includes 95 cellars, 47 concentrators, 79 vinegar factories and 174 packers. There are over 1.000 employees in the sector. These figures place the product as the first ambassador of Made in Italy for export and in the top five of Italian PDO and PGI food specialties, alongside Grana Padano DOP, Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, Prosciutto di Parma DOP, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP.
