Exports of Italian agri-food products are increasing and reach a historic record in 2013, reaching 33 billion euros. The leading products, increasingly popular on foreign tables, are wine, oil, fresh fruit and vegetables, and even pasta. This is what emerges from a Coldiretti analysis based on Istat data relating to foreign trade.
According to Coldiretti, exports involve above all the countries of the European Union for an estimated value of 22,5 billion (+5 per cent), but Made in Italy is also growing in the United States with 2,9 billion (+6 per cent), in the Asian markets (+8 per cent, 2,8 billion) and in the African ones where an increase of 12 per cent was recorded, reaching 1,1 billion. The best result, however, is that which comes from Oceania, with a +13 per cent, even if the amount is limited.
The total increase in exports compared to last year was 6 percent.
The most exported product is wine with 5,1 billion (+8 percent) ahead of fresh fruit and vegetables (4,5 billion euros) which grows by 6 percent. Oil marks a +10 percent which brings the total value to 1,3 billion. And the consumption of pasta on foreign tables is also increasing with 2,2 billion (+4 percent).
By analyzing the performance of the products in the individual states, surprising aspects are discovered - Coldiretti points out - starting with the success of tricolor wine in the home of the other main producers, with purchases growing in France (+11 per cent), the United States (+8 percent), Australia (+21 percent) and Chile (+66 percent). The tricolor sparkling wine is establishing itself in China (+101 percent) but also in Great Britain (+50 percent) and Russia (+31 percent), but beer is also strong, conquering the Nordic countries, from Germany (+ 66 per cent), to Sweden (+19 per cent), up to Holland (+9 per cent).
"The record recorded by exports is the result of the work of a rich, capillary productive fabric, which involves millions of men and which makes Italy competitive even within the processes of globalization of the economy and ideas", he declares the president of Coldiretti, Roberto Moncalvo. "Now we need to defend this heritage, bringing the added value of transparency to the market and fully implementing the national and community laws which provide for the obligation to indicate the origin of foods on the label".
Abroad – according to Coldiretti – counterfeit Made in Italy bills at the table amount to 60 billion euros and two out of three Italian-type food products are counterfeits.
