Against the trend, foodstuffs are soaring, with a +16.7 percent jump in turnover compared to last year, thanks mainly to the demand from abroad for food and beverages from Italy, which set an all-time record with an increase of 18 percent in January, driven by products that symbolize the Mediterranean Diet such as wine, pasta and fresh fruit and vegetables. These climb to the podium of the best-selling Italian products in the world.

This is what Coldiretti says in reference to Istat data on industry turnover in January 2023, which recorded a -1.1 percent decline in cyclical terms and an increase of +8.6 percent in trend terms.  The king of Italian exports is confirmed to be wine while in second place are pasta and other cereal derivatives and in third place are fresh fruits and vegetables, but also increasing substantially are Italy’s extra virgin olive oil, as well as cheeses and cured meats.

This is a result that confirms the primacy of Made in Italy agribusiness, which last year developed a value of 580 billion euros in the extended supply chain and became Italy’s first wealth despite the difficulties related to the pandemic and the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine. A heritage that-concludes Coldiretti-is worth almost a quarter of the national GDP and, from the field to the table, involves as many as 4 million workers in 740,000 farms, 70,000 food industries, more than 330,000 catering realities and 230,000 retail outlets and 10,000 farmers in direct sales with Campagna Amica.

Source: coldiretti.it