Grana Padano, record exports on 70th anniversary

The Grana Padano consortium celebrates its 70th anniversary with a record of exports, which continued to grow in 2024, exceeding 2.68 million wheels, 9.15% more than the previous year. And this is not the only record on the table at the general assembly of the consortium, which took place on 16 April in Desenzano sul Garda: with a 42.5% share, in fact, Grana Padano is also confirmed as the most sold cheese on the Italian market.

Last year, the 135 dairies united in the consortium produced over 5.6 million wheels of Grana cheese. Of all those exported - 51.2% of production - Europe absorbed over 82%. Germany confirmed itself as the most important market, with 633,718 cheeses purchased and a growth of 8.12%; followed by France with 319,205, an increase of over 10%. Outside the Old Continent, the US market remains the most important, with 215,037 cheeses purchased, an increase of 10.5%. This is why the threats of duties worry the consortium's producers: "We are confident that the government will find a way to greatly mitigate the impact of the measures threatened by Trump," said the director general of the Consortium, Stefano Berni, yesterday at the general assembly, "however, it should be emphasised that the Grana Padano system, regardless of the advent of the new duties, is intensively working outside Italy according to precise strategies that already in 2024 brought 51.2% of production across the border, also aiming at other countries beyond the United States, which in any case do not even reach 8% of the total exported. And just as we overcame the Russian embargo and Trump's 2020 duties, we will manage this time too, even if it is a serious penalty that we would gladly do without'.

On a territorial basis, 2024 production again saw Mantua as the most productive territory with over 1.7 million wheels, equal to 30% of the total; followed in order by Brescia, Cremona, Piacenza and Vicenza. "In 2024, we have continued the growth in production that we have begun in recent years," stressed the president of the protection consortium, Renato Zaghini, "and we have been the most profitable destination in the world for milk from silomais.

65% of all Grana produced was processed by cooperatives, 34% by industries. "We must not give in on the protection of geographical indications, which represent an invaluable economic and cultural heritage for our country," said the president of Fedagripesca Confcooperative, Raffaele Drei, speaking at the assembly for the 70th anniversary of the Grana Padano consortium. "In the light of the delicate international context, it is essential to equip ourselves as soon as possible to enable our companies to face the various shocks that are going to occur in the best possible way.

The consortium's general assembly was also attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollorigida, while Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sent a video greeting, as she had to leave for her mission to Washington. 'On duties,' said Minister Lollobrigida, 'there is certainly concern, but also hope. We are a country that wants to ensure an increasingly solid relationship with the United States, understood as a strategic ally, but also as an important market for our excellence. Among these, Grana Padano represents an extraordinary symbol that can open up new markets and we will be at the producers' side'.