Italian cheeses, war jeopardises new export record (+13% in 2025)

2025 was an extraordinary year for Italian dairy exports: 680 thousand tons of cheese exported for a value of 6.1 billion euros, which reaches 6.7 billion if we consider the entire milk sector. Growth over 2024 was +4.6% in volume and +12.8% in value, confirming the strength of a sector that continues to drive the Italian agro-food industry on international markets. An outstanding result that communicated by Assolatte, also considering that another national champion such as wine, while containing and losses, was forced to brake between tariffs, consumption crisis and war scenarios.

But things could change quickly even for a sector as accustomed to amazement as the tricolour dairy industry: the ongoing war is disrupting routes, costs and prospects. "The new and growing geopolitical instability in the Gulf area, together with war tensions that have altered the main sea routes, is producing immediate and profound impacts on the Italian dairy industry. The explosion of energy and consequently transport costs, and the heavy logistical delays due to the Red Sea bypass, are jeopardising cheese exports, especially fresh cheeses with high added value," reads the Assolatte note.

"We are not facing a simple logistical inconvenience: this is a crisis that impacts the entire supply chain," says president Paolo Zanetti. Products such as mozzarella, burrata and stracciatella cannot sustain 10 or 20 days of additional transit without compromising quality. Thus we risk losing key markets in Asia at precisely the most sensitive time. It is time to abandon buffer solutions: we need investments in innovation to extend the commercial life of our products and a European energy shield. And a more stable CAP must give farmers the necessary certainty to plan and invest'.

Returning to the data, with the overtaking of Germany, Italia has become the European Union's leading exporter in non-EU markets. Globally it ranks second by value and third by volume, with a leading role in the Middle East, which grew by 20%, while the United States and China showed negative signs linked to tariffs and the economic situation.