2022 marked a new record for the agri-food exports Italian companies that have touched 61 billion euros, up 14,8% compared to 2021: this is what emerges from thelatest ISMEA report. Over the past decade, the value of food and drink exports has almost doubled (+81%), with shipments increasing in value at the rate of almost 7% annually
Il market share of Italy has grown over the past ten years, reaching 3,25% in 2021, after the minimum level of 2,8% in 2012. An increase that is only apparently modest, given that it is the weight of a single country on the food exchanges of the whole the world. The sector not only proved to be more dynamic, but also more resilient when, in 2020, it still managed to achieve growth (+3,2%), in contrast with the rest of the economy (-9,1% the contraction of overall outflows).
La trade balance in the sector, which has always been structurally deficient, has improved steadily over the last decade, so much so that it reversed the trend in the two-year period 2020-2021, generating a surplus of 3,1 billion and 3,9 billion. In 2022 the trade balance however, it returned to being negative (-1,6 billion) due to the strong growth of cheap imports (+27,2% for 62,4 billion), driven by the increases in agricultural commodity prices. For both exports and imports, it is above all the "price effect" that weighs, with growth rates of flows in value which in both cases are much more consistent than those in volume.
Record-breaking agri-food sector: boom in wine, pasta and fresh fruit and vegetables
A feature of Italian agri-food exports is its product concentration: of the 24 main sectors that make up the overall trade flows, just six of them (beverages, cereal derivatives, milk and derivatives, fruit and vegetable preparations, fruit, and other food preparations) capture more than two thirds of the total value and individually weigh more than 5% of the total. Those that grew the most in the period 2017-21 are: other food preparations (+9,1% annual average); cereal derivatives (+7,8%); milk and derivatives (+8,2%). On the other hand, the growth of fruit (+1,2%), vegetables (+4,1%) fruit and vegetable derivatives (+4,9%) and meat (+2,5%) was below average.
At a more disaggregated level, a group of twenty distinctive products of the Made in Italy:, with almost 28 billion euros, represents 53% of the total value of agri-food exports in 2021. The top five in terms of value are bottled wines, dry pasta, processed tobacco, aged cheeses and bakery and pastry products ( specifically represented above all by special occasion desserts and pizzas).
In 2022 there was a positive performance for all the main sectors and categories, with the only exceptions of apples and table grapes. THE wines in bottles they reach 5,2 billion in exports (+6,6%), thanks to the increase in average unit values which largely compensates for the reduction in volumes (-2,3%). Exports in value of food pastes increase by 38,4% compared to 2021 and those of sparkling wines by 19,4%. Exports of roasted coffee and bakery products are also growing significantly.
The main products imported
The product detail of imports, in line with Italy's role as a transforming country in the agri-food sector, largely concerns unprocessed raw materials and semi-finished products. In particular, unroasted coffee, corn, extra virgin olive oil, live cattle, common wheat, soybeans, refined palm oil and crude sunflower oil were the most imported products, all with consistent growth.
The main "customers" of Made in Italy agri-food
In the last five years, the degree of penetration of Italian products in the top 20 reference markets on a global level has increased, although there has been a decline on the Chinese market, which is the main world importer. More specifically, Made in Italy agri-food can count on a higher penetration (over 8% in 2021) in the markets of traditional European partners, followed by the United Kingdom, Poland and Spain. An above-average share (3,25%) is also recorded in 2021 in Japan, Belgium, Russia and the USA.
Italian agri-food exports show a marked concentration also on the geographical front, with the top 20 outlet countries absorbing more than 80% of sales and with about half of this share due to the top three "customers": Germany, France e Use, which together absorb more than 37% of national exports. The main destination market for Italian agri-food products remains the EU which, with 34,9 billion, absorbs around 57% of exports. But the demand from countries outside the European continent becomes more and more dynamic, with USA, Japan, Canada, Russia, China e Australia which together today concentrate almost 21% of the value of our agri-food exports.
Furthermore, it is worth noting the strong increase in exports to Hungary, Poland e Czech Republic, while only shipments to Japan and Russia are bucking the trend (in the latter case, due to the stiffening of commercial relations resulting from the current geopolitical situation).
