Sales of prepared meats and cheeses, first and foremost Grana Padano, are growing in value and quantity

In 2023, agri-food will set new records for Italy's foreign trade. This is what emerges from the 32nd edition of the Report on foreign trade in agri-food products, now in its 32nd edition, produced by Crea Politiche e Bioeconomia. In particular, agri-food exports grow by 6.6% compared to 2022, reaching the record of 63.1 billion euros (in 2018 they did not exceed 42 billion euros). Record also for imports which reach 64.7 billion euros, with an increase of 4.1% compared to 2022. These trends produce an improvement in the agri-food balance in 2023.

Excellent performance for Made in Italy agri-food exports, with growth of 8% in 2023. Both agricultural and processed products are driving this trend. In 2023 the increase in value of Italian agri-food exports concerns almost all the main markets and products. Foreign sales of prepared meats and cheeses are growing in value and quantity, first and foremost Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano (+8.3% in value and +6.1% in quantity). For imports the trend is more diversified: after the clear general increase last year, thanks to the increase in international commodity prices, in 2023 the import of products such as seed oil, raw coffee and corn will reduce in value and in quantity.

Also in 2023, the trend of international prices produces a misalignment between the trend of values and that of quantities, but more limited than in 2022. During 2023, imports show a progressive attenuation of the trend growth, up to a contraction in the last months of the year, while exports always remain at positive values. This determines, especially in the second half of the year, a clear improvement in the agri-food balance, whose deficit in 2023 stands at 1.64 billion euros, reducing by 1.34 billion compared to the previous year.

The export of Made in Italy agri-food - that is, products with high added value recognized abroad as typical of our country - exceeds 46 billion euros in 2023. It is growing by 8% compared to 2022, doing better than agri-food as a whole. Both processed products (such as bakery products and cheeses) and agricultural products, such as horticultural products (+20% in value) contribute to this result.

The EU27 area concentrates 59.4% of Italy's agri-food exports and 70.5% of imports, shares increasing compared to 2022. The incidence of the Asian market is decreasing, after the increases of recent years, with a decline in imports from Indonesia and China of 16% and 21.5% respectively.

These dynamics can be partly traced back to the crisis that is affecting the Red Sea starting from the last months of 2023. Exports to Germany and France, the top two destination markets for Italian agri-food, are growing by around 10%. Also significant is the increase in value of sales to the United Kingdom (+7.8%), while that to the United States is more limited (+2%). The data for the first three months of 2024 confirm the trend observed in the last part of 2023, highlighting a further increase in exports (+6.7% compared to the first quarter of 2023) against a decline in imports (-2.5%). These dynamics produce an improvement in the agri-food balance, which is positive in the first quarter. Exports of canned tomatoes and peeled tomatoes grow, in value and quantity, by more than 10% compared to the first quarter of 2023. In general, all the main export products show increases in the value and volumes sold abroad.