Grana Padano, turnover at 3.7 billion: revenues more abroad than in Italy, now also volumes

Grana Padano closes the year 2023 in the black, both in terms of turnover (+16%) and production (+4.8%), thanks to the results achieved in Italy and abroad.
"In 2023 we laid a solid foundation for foreign volumes to exceed Italian ones in 2024, given that foreign consumption turnover has already surpassed the Italian one: almost one billion and 950 million euro compared to one billion and 650 million euro in Italy. This year then world consumers spent almost 3.7 billion euro to buy Grana Padano, a staggering figure, with an increase of 16% compared to 2022. In these four years, we have continued to increase production, we have performed excellently abroad and in Italy, and we have been the most profitable destination in the world for milk from silomais. Higher costs, certainly, compared to dairy farms for drinking milk or generic cheeses, but top valuations like no other destination. We therefore end a four-year period truly beyond expectations, with some difficult, courageous, but equally successful choices'. This is how Renato Zaghini summarised his 'years' as president of the Consortium for the Protection of PDO (a non-renewable term by statute, the Board of Directors appointed by the assembly will elect the new president at the first meeting).

Since 1998, the year when PDO Grana Padano was launched, the increase in production has been 66.9%, 46.11% over the last 20 years and 4.8% by 2022.

"The province of Mantua with 27 dairies is the most productive area with 1,656,325 cheeses equal to 30.36% of production (29.8% in 2022). It is followed by Brescia, with 1,255,020 cheeses processed in 29 companies, and Cremona, with 946,156 cheeses from its 9 dairies, which therefore have the highest average production in the consortium with more than 105,000 cheeses processed," reads a note.

"In the year 2023 the category "Typical Italian hard cheeses" developed a positive volume trend in Italy of +4.8% compared to 2022. With a 45.2% share in volume," the Consortium stated, "Grana Padano confirmed its leadership of the category together with Trentingrana, showing a stable performance in volume (+0.4%) against a growth in value of +8.8% linked to the continuation of the inflationary phase during the year. The average price of Grana Padano DOP grew by 8.9%, reaching an average price of EUR 14.68 per kilo.

In 2023, exports of Grana Padano DOP will reach a total of 2,482,891 wheels, an increase of 6.5%. "This means that in 2023, 48.4% of the branded production was destined for foreign markets," comments the General Manager of the Protection Consortium, Stefano Berni. "Considering, moreover, an increase in the retail prices of Grana Padano that is higher than the inflation trend, this is an extraordinary achievement that is an encouraging sign for the future," Berni emphasises, "because it denotes constant appreciation on the part of consumers all over the world and an excellent quality-price ratio of our cheese.