The internationalization of the agri-food industry is "strategic" for the Italian economy, local officials said here on Monday at the opening of Cibus, the international fair on food made in Italy.
Although the sector was not spared by falling domestic consumption and therefore has lost some 14 percentage points in sales turnover during the recent economic crisis, its exports continued to be a major driver for the country.
Agri-food exports in 2013 increased by 5.8 percent to more than 26 billion euros (36 billion U.S. dollars), after rising 6.9 percent in 2012 and registering double-digit growths in the previous two years, according to figures of national food industry association Federalimentare.
The sector's exports are expected to further grow by around 8.5 percent every year until 2017, Chairman of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee Paolo De Castro said while speaking at the fair's opening ceremony.
De Castro noted the agri-food industry, whose turnover was 132 billion euros in 2013, is the second leading sector in Italy after metal-mechanics. "We are speaking about an extraordinary economic and social opportunity," he said.
More planned internationalization will enhance the sector's potentials, Italian Vice Minister for Economic Development Carlo Calenda stressed. He said that the Italian government has decided to triple the budget for the promotion of agri-food industry over next year.
Despite the high potentials, Calenda noted, the sector currently only exports a 20-percent share compared to the 33 percent of Germany's agri-food. Only a small percentage of Italy's agri-food companies are selling their products abroad due to obstacles that must be urgently addressed including heavy bureaucracy and the lack of efficient distribution channels, he said.
But the export figure has doubled over the past 10 years, Calenda added, and a series of initiatives have been recently launched to train agri-food companies on promotional and commercial strategies, part of which will be carried out during the four-day fair.
In fact, Cibus' figures were also in sharp contrast to the difficulties of other industrial sectors in Italy. A record number of 2,700 Italian food companies against 2,300 in 2012 as well as some 10,000 visiting buyers from 115 countries took part in the fair, which is held every two years in the northern city of Parma.
Calenda noted that potential consumers of made in Italy food around the world are expected to be around 800 million by 2030. China and Russia are the markets with highest growth potential in the next years, according to Federalimentare.
More frequent technical meetings and political dialogues between Italy and extra-European countries are therefore necessary and beneficial before opening non tariff-barrier and counterfeiting cases as well as to help strengthen trade relations, Calenda also highlighted.
