The agri-food sector accelerates and soars the export of Made in Italy at the table

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The Italian economy and the agri-food sector have achieved positive post-Covid performances. And it wasn’t just a “rebound” because the positive trend in terms of turnover, exports and employment repercussions also continued during 2022, going beyond the escalation of production costs and the consequent wave of inflation.

The one carried out by the Agri-Food Observatory set up by the Giampiero Sambucini and Edison Foundations and presented in Rome in the presence of 450 delegates from the food sector and the National Council of UILA (Italian Union of Agri-Food Workers) is a real “truth-operation”. “In the two-year period ’21-22, Italy’s GDP increased by 10.9% (+7% in 2021 and +3.7% in 2022),” explained the vice president and director of the Edison Foundation, Marco Fortis.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), recalls Fortis, in the two-year period the Italian economy grew more than the world economy as a whole (+6.2% and +3.4%, respectively), as well as the average of advanced countries (+ 5.4% and +2.7%). In particular, in 2022, many countries grew less than Italy. Among these: Brazil and Mexico (+3.1%), Canada and China (+3%), France and South Africa (+2.6%), United States (+2%), Germany (+1.9% ), Japan (+1.4%). These figures were surprising to many observers because they believed that other economies had better chances of recovery than Italy’s. A sign that some reforms carried out in the pre-pandemic period (launch of the Industry 4.0 plan and dismantling of some heavy taxes paid by families and businesses) have had a positive and lasting impact, neither with the Conte 1 and 2 governments nor with the pandemic . The Draghi government then reassured the markets, quickly and effectively managing both the launch of the Pnrr and the fight against inflation. On the labor front, the employment rate, which grew from 54.8% to 58.7% under the Renzi and Gentiloni governments, exceeded 60% for the first time in history under the Draghi government”.

Now the Meloni Government, with the Pnrr and the relaunch of Industry 4.0, has the opportunity to continue this positive growth path “especially considering that all the major indicators predict a significant return from inflation at least in the second half of 2023” he added Fortis. But even more positive results were achieved – according to the Observatory – by the agri-food sector which in two years has seen production grow by 10% compared to the substantial stability of Italian industry as a whole. Trend also confirmed in the first part of 2022 when agri-food grew by 1.2% and therefore more than the rest of Italian industry (+0.5%).

«To this must be added – Fortis continued – the significant contribution from exports which in the agri-food sector have broken through the ceiling of 60 billion with a driving role played by some segments: vegetables and vegetable preserves, wines, pasta and rice, dairy products, bakery products, animal preserves, chocolate that we have defined as “the magnificent 7” of made in Italy agri-food».