Italian food production grew moderately by 1.1% in 2018, surpassing the pre-crisis level of 2007, a new study has revealed.
Last year, turnover from the food industry reached €140 billion, up 2.2% when compared with data from 2017.
It is expected to reach €142 billion by the end of 2019, according to data shared by the Italian trade association Federalimentare at the Cibus Connect fair in Parma.
Italian food exports grew 3% to €32.9 billion, while food imports fell by 1.7% to €21.8 billion.
Product Categories
Leading the list of imported products were oils and fats worth €3.5 billion (-12.1%), followed by dairy (€3.1 billion, +1.4%), fish (€2.6 billion, +3.1%), and confectionery (€2.1 billion, -2.5%).
Food export data for January 2019 has revealed year-on-year growth of 5.9%, with the highest increase in Russia (+11.4%), the UK (+17.3%), China (+20.0%), and the US (+9.2%).
Food consumption remained stagnant, increasing by 0.6% in value and decreasing 0.5% in volume.
Total sales increased by 0.2% in value and dropped 0.2% in volume.
Food discounts triggered a 4.4% increase in the value of sales, the study found.
Forecast
In 2019, the Italian food industry is expected to record modest growth, with food exports likely to rise 3-5% in the period 2019-2020.
In Italy, food sales should remain below the 1% level both in value and volume, and growth is likely to come from the low-cost and premium segments. The weakness of the food market was further confirmed in January 2019, which saw 6.2% growth in the discount channel.
Research presented at Cibus Connect by Marco Limonta, business insight director at IRI, has revealed that premium food products reached a 19.6% share in value in 2018 (+2.9%).
This was achieved at a time when consumption in the FMCG segment was stagnant (+0.1% in value, -0.6% in volume in 2018).
Elsewhere, data shared by Deloitte Italia’s Eugenio Puddu revealed that around 70% of Italian consumers read online reviews before making purchases.
Around 58% of low-income consumers preferred physical stores, while upper-middle-income consumers were willing to pay a surcharge for online purchases and home delivery.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
