Italian wine passed from 18.7% to 23% of product world export in 10 years

The agri-food sector is a fundamental resource for the Italian economy, as demonstrated by the figures. For example, exports are expected to reach 59.3 billion euros in 2025 (+5.1%). However, Italian wine & food products are also a global success story, with an increasingly more prominent role on the world stage and growth rates which outpace those of competitors. Over the past 10 years, according to Nomisma, global exports of food and beverage products (excluding agricultural commodities and tobacco-related products) have grown by 76%, surpassing 1,430 billion dollars. In the global ranking, Italy ranks No. 6, with a 4.7% market share, corresponding to just over 67 billion dollars. At the top of the ranking, there are the Netherlands and Germany, each exporting more than 100 billion dollars worth of food products, followed by the United States (90 billion dollars), Brazil (82 billion dollars), and France (71 billion dollars).
Several excellence-driven sectors act as key growth engines for Italy agri-food industry: in 2025, Italian wine accounted for 23% of global wine exports (it was 18.7% in 2015, according to Nomisma based on Trade Map data); pasta share declined slightly from 30.4% (2015) to 27.6% (2025), while olive oil remained stable (21.2% in 2025). Meanwhile, dairy products experienced significant growth (from 9.3% to 13.5%). Alongside these leading sectors, other industries have smaller but steadily increasing export shares over the last decade. This is the case for baked goods, whose share rose from 6.4% in 2015 to 8.2% in 2025, of chocolate (from 6.2% to 7.2%), preserved vegetables (from 6% to 7%), and coffee (from 4.6% to 5.2%). Taken together, these 8 product categories account for 63% of Italy food and beverage exports, highlighting the high level of diversification within the country export portfolio.
Among the world leading exporters, Italy growth has been surpassed by only one country: Poland, which increased the value of its food exports by 169% over the same period, rising from 18 billion to nearly 49 billion dollars. Looking more closely at individual products, Nomisma points out that although Italy leadership in pasta exports remains undisputed, it is increasingly being challenged by emerging competitors such as South Korea, whose export share has grown from less than 4% to 10% over the past decade, or Turkey, which has now reached 5.2%.
Denis Pantini, head of agribusiness at Nomisma, stated that “it is important to highlight that Italian export growth has outperformed that of all the competitors ranked ahead of us, with a +109% increase over the decade under consideration. This progressive growth has strengthened even further in recent years despite an extremely complex and uncertain market environment marked by wars, geopolitical tensions, and trade conflicts, demonstrating the outstanding quality reputation enjoyed by made in Italy food products”.