According to the federation of Italian farmers, the Coldiretti, in 2018 food and wine export sales reached 42 billion euros for the first time ever with the top prize going to the spumante, or sparkling wine category, which saw a 13% increase in sales.
Two-thirds of the exports went to countries within the European Union, with Germany receiving the most products. Meanwhile outside of the EU, the United States is the largest consumer of Italian exports.
The Coldiretti federation states that these astronomical results are thanks to the impeccable quality control and safety record of Italy’s national agriculture industry, i.e. the food farming industry, which adheres to strict health codes and procedure regulations.
2018 closed with Italy registering 5056 traditional products, of which 294 are certified DOP/IGP (denomination of origin protected) and 415 wines certified DOC/DOCG (denomination of controlled and guaranteed origin). They were the leading European country when it comes to biological/organic products with over 60,000 organic farms and 40,000 farms dedicated to protecting seeds and plants at risk of extinction.
Italy also has the world’s largest organized network of farmers’ markets called Campagna Amica and they hold the first place worldwide for food safety with the largest number of agricultural products, 99.4%, that pass the universal global allowance of chemical residues.
However, even with all this positive news, Italian farmers are still worried about 2019 due to the ongoing embargo the European Union has with Russia, which in turn had banned fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat and fish coming from the EU. In addition, there’s also the unknown when it comes to the Brexit factor and the unpredictable fluctuations of Donald Trump’s commercial relationships with foreign countries.