Never before in the first quarter of this year, despite the first hints of the coronavirus crisis, has the Italian agri-food sector depopulated in the world. The fortunate sector, which even during the lockdown was rightly considered an essential activity and which recently (except for very few products) was pardoned by Donald Trump's customs duties, had already returned from a record 2019: last year the exports of made in Italy agri-food as a whole have achieved the monstrous figure of over 43 billion euros, an increase of 3,7% compared to the previous year. And also in the first quarter of 2020 the trend was confirmed with a further +8,1% compared to the first quarter of 2019.
But what are the favorite products of our business partners? To find out, just scroll through the Monitor of Italian agri-food districts, presented by the Intesa Sanpaolo study centre, which analyzed our country's supply chains one by one. It emerged that the wine sector is still the sector with the highest turnover abroad (1,3 billion in the first quarter, with growth of 6%), but the exploit in proportional terms, in the first months of this year , it does the pasta and sweets supply chain, which exceeds the threshold of one billion euros in exports, an increase of 27,6% over the same period last year. All the other sectors of our excellence are also growing, from oil to cured meats, from dairy products to preserves, with the exception of fish, which is affected by the ho.re.ca crisis. (hotels and restaurants).
Pasta and sweets, we said. But exactly which ones and from which parts of Italy? To take the lion's share, definitely, is the district of Coffee, confectionery and Turin chocolate, which grew close to 60% in the quarter with over 200 million exports, 75 million more than in the first quarter of 2020, with widespread growth achieved in all the main outlet markets: Germany (+65%), France (+ 126%), Russia (+18%), United States (+17%) and even the United Kingdom, which doubles (+101%) despite Brexit. The first Italian district in terms of exports, but with a lower growth this year, is confirmed as that of Sweets from Alba and Cuneo, which in 2019 closed at 1,4 billion in exports. But there are other outstanding results: the pasta sector of the Parma district, after an excellent 2019 closed with 715 million euros (+23% compared to 2018), it achieved almost 2020 million exports in the first quarter of 240, over 90 million euros more than in the same period of the previous year (+62% tendential).
The pasta section of theFood of Avellino (+74% trend in the first quarter of 2020) albeit on more contained values: almost 45 million against 25 last year, with growth of over 5 million towards the United States and the United Kingdom. Excellent performance also for the pasta sector of theNeapolitan food (+17% in the first quarter with over 115 million exports), for i Veronese sweets and pasta (almost 65 million, +11% growth trend), for Pasta di Fara (which with +14% exceeds 40 million), and for the pasta sector ofBari oil and pasta (+11,7% with over 37 million).
