The PDO economy is worth 20.7 billion: record exports, but one in two supply chains suffers from tariffs

PDO and PGI quality food products are increasingly a factor in Italian agrifood products. The value of IG IG label production has reached 20.7 billion euro (+3.5% in one year and +25% from 2019) while exports have exceeded the threshold of 12.3 billion (+8.2%). Values evenly distributed between the two large aggregates food and wine. But above all, the 'quality supply chain' remains a pillar capable of guaranteeing value in the territories thanks to 184 thousand operators and no less than 864 thousand workers. These are the main results, relative to the year 2024, of the 23rd Ismea-Qualivita Report on the DOP economy presented yesterday in Rome.

The balance on the number of protected specialities sees Italy firmly leading Europe with 897 recognitions (+6 in 2025 +62 in ten years) distributed between wine (530), food (331) and spirits (36).

The data, it should be clarified,does not yet report the effect of US tariffs on the supply chains. An effect much feared by producers given that 22% of Italian PDO and PGI products are shipped to the United States. According to a survey carried out by Origin Italia (the association of protection consortia), in October 2025 it emerged that 48% of supply chains had felt the negative effect of US tariffs and 61% of consortia had launched market diversification strategies.

'The DOP economy,' explained Fabio Del Bravo of Ismea, 'is also a model that is spreading outside Europe (13 new non-EU brands in 2025 and 80 in the last ten years). There are now 24 countries in the world that have at least one recognition'. 'And this also poses new problems,' added the director of Qualivita, Mauro Rosati - Turkey, for example, submitted 200 applications for new registrations, 43 of which were accepted, all without any guarantee of certification and control. More caution is needed'.

Among the individual PDO, PGI and TSG food sectors, the best performances came from cheese (+10.5% in value), fruit and vegetables (+6%), balsamic vinegars (+7.9%), pasta (+11%) and fresh meat (+4.3%). Not forgetting the real exploit of olive oils (+46.9%) thanks to the increase in certified production and the real price boom recorded in 2024.