Average agri-food revenues ranked 14th in Europe

The Italian food industry still suffers from "excessive fragmentation" and "limited average revenues", despite representing a pillar of the economy that can count on high levels of innovation and development potential. These are the main conclusions of the analysis that The European House-Ambrosetti (Teha) presented at the Forum "The Roadmap of the Future for Food & Beverage" in Bormio. According to Teha, in fact, Italy ranks only 14th out of 27 in Europe in terms of average revenues of processing companies (about 60 thousand), which amount to 3 million against the EU average of 5.3.

Average revenues are only a third of those in Germany and half of those in Spain. And as far as productivity is concerned, Italy drops another position, with an average of 45 thousand euros per employee against the EU's 52 thousand. "If the Italian supply chain wanted to reach the productivity of the EU top 10 (80 thousand euros per employee)," Teha points out, "it would have to more than triple the average size of the sector's companies. The agri-food sector generates 67 billion of added value, or 3.8 per cent of GDP, but stillbelow the European average of 4.1 per cent.

"The high fragmentation of the Italian food and beverage industry," comments Valerio De Molli, managing partner and ceo of The European House Ambrosetti, "is a critical factor limiting its competitiveness. The sample of 500 companies we surveyed in April claims that limited company size is the main obstacle to export growth. In addition, food inflation at the end of 2022 reached 11.8%, in a country like Italy that is affected by per capita economic losses due to climate change almost twice as high as the European average. Integrated action by all players, including the institutions, is essential to close the gap with other European economies by intervening in all production phases, using technological innovation as a lever, also by exploiting the funds of the NRP through partnerships along the supply chain'.

This year, Teha researchers also introduced the Food Sustainable Transition Index, a tool capable of providing an overview of the level of sustainability and circularity of the agrifood supply chain, analysing four pillars: economic, environmental, social and innovation sustainability. Italy ranks 16th out of the 27 EU countries. "What emerges is a high vulnerability of the supply chain to climate impacts," says Benedetta Brioschi, a Teha partner, "that will require substantial adaptation and mitigation measures. The good news is that Italy can count on an excellent position in the innovation pillar (seventh position), which can be leveraged to strengthen the level of sustainability of the entire supply chain'.

We are, for exampleamong the top 5 EU countries in terms of value generated by the agricultural robotics market, with revenues of 1,600 euro for every million generated by agriculture, twice the European value. Our country is also fifth in terms of patent applications in the food sector: 69 against a European average of 39. Yet public investment in Italy for research and development in the agricultural sector comes to EUR 5.2 per capita, ranking 17th in the European Union, where an average of EUR 7.6 is invested.