Agri-food districts, wine drives growth, with Langhe Roero and Monferrato n. 1 in value

The Italian agri-food districts’ exports continue to grow, with wine leading the way. And if the most important district by far in terms of value remains that of the Wines of Langhe Roero and Monferrato, with 2.09 billion euros exported in 2022, with a growth of 3.9% on 2021, out of a total wine of over 6,6 billion euros (+9.4%), followed, remaining in the wine sector, by the Veronese Wine District, with 1.2 billion euros (+6.7%), the largest contribution to growth in overall values, with a total of 570 million euros more than 2021, comes from the Prosecco district of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, with exports of 1.03 billion euros (+25.3%), but also very good is the performance of the district of the Florentine and Sienese Hills’ wines, which reached 912 million euros (+11.6%). It emerges from the Monitor of Italian Agro-Food Districts as of 31 December 2022, edited by the Intesa Sanpaolo Studies and Research Department. According to which, the districts’ exports have clearly exceeded 25 billion euros (25.7), with a +12.8% growth rate and an overall growth rate slightly lower than the +15.3% of the national total, of which the districts account for 44% in terms of exported values.
The processed food products sector was the driving force, growing by 17.7% in 2022, compared to a foreign price index that increased by 13.1% in the same period in 2021. At the district level, Piedmont leads the ranking, not only with wines, which rank first overall but also with Dolci di Alba and Cuneo, which rank second with a value of 1.7 billion euros, ahead of the Parma food sector (1.4 billion euros) and Conserve di Nocera (1.3), which rank fifth, just ahead of Veronese wines, which rank sixth. And if wine is the most valuable supply chain, accounting for 26% of total value, it is followed by pasta, with 4.4 billion (+19.3%), ahead of agricultural products (3.8 billion euros, +1.6%), followed by meat and cured meats (2.4 billion euros), dairy products (2.3), coffee (1.3), oil (1,2), rice (650 million euros), and fish products (103 million euros).
Among the target markets, Germany will be the first buyer for agro-food districts in 2022, with a total of 4.6 billion (+8.7%), followed by the United States, with over 3.2 billion euros, and France, with 2.9 billion. The recovery of sales in the British market (+13%) continues. Despite declines with China (-25.8%) and Russia (-12.3%), good flows to emerging economies reach the 20% threshold of total district agri-food exports.
“With over 25 billion euros, the export results of the Italian agri-food sector continue to significantly reflect the excellence and quality of the products grown and processed in our area - underlined Massimiliano Cattozzi, Head of the Agribusiness Department of Intesa Sanpaolo - but it is evident that after positive months for the sector, from now on it will be necessary to take into account the impact that the bad weather emergency in Emilia Romagna will produce in the various districts and above all on SMEs and families. Our bank intervened quickly with a substantial aid package, paying special attention to the agri-food sector in this area, allowing loan suspensions and facilitating conditions in new disbursements thanks to a dedicated limit of 2 billion euros. We want to offer the world of agriculture and industrial processing all the professionalism of Agribusiness people who make their assistance available to listen to the needs of this sector with particular attention to entrepreneurs in the provinces affected by bad weather”.