The value of pre-sliced Culatello di Zibello Dop exceeds the 50% threshold of the entire annual production for the first time. This is what the Consortium for the Protection of the 'King of cured meats' reiterated in communicating the economic data for 2024, which closed with a consumer turnover of 18.5 million euros. A historic value, linked to the trays, never reached in the 15 years since the foundation of the Consortium: in 2024, out of 73,550 sealed culatellos, 38,004 were destined for pre-sliced, thus reaching 51.6% of the total. And looking at the historical data, in terms of volume, only in the record year of 2022 (with 102,591 branded culatellos when production restarted completely post-Covid) had more been destined, with 40,171.

Overall, out of a consumer turnover of 18.5 million euros, 10.2 come from pre-sliced products (in 2019 they were 7.3) with 1.07 million trays placed on the market. The growth takes on even more importance in a year where the sourcing of raw materials for the certified product has been extremely difficult. Compared to 2023, the drop in markings is 9.5%, with 294 kilograms destined compared to 325 thousand the previous year.

A contraction that is mainly affected by the increase in costs: "In 2020, the average price of pork leg with bone was 3.73 euros per kilo; currently, given 2024, we have reached 6.08: almost double", reiterates Romeo Gualerzi , president of the Consortium for the Protection of Culatello di Zibello Dop. "These are stratospheric prices that translate into an inevitable reduction in consumption due to lower purchasing power. Furthermore, as a Consortium, we have applied even more stringent rules on the specifications, with modern controls capable of guaranteeing greater guarantees; applications that partly reduce the availability of legs on the market".

In any case, according to Gualerzi , "we are well above the historical average of 60 thousand branded culatelli: 2022 was an exception, given that after the stop due to Covid we had exhausted the stocks, and from this year we aim to reach 80 thousand. But the most important thing will be to stabilize the market. In addition to increasingly intensifying promotional activity in Canada, China, Japan and the USA where pork consumption is very high".