Export of agri-food districts increases to 27 billion in 2023

The Italian agri-food districts end 2023 with almost 27 billion euro in sales on foreign markets and a 4.5% increase, almost 1.2 billion more than the previous year. This is what emerges from the monitor of Italian agrifood districts, edited by the research department of Intesa Sanpaolo.

The result is in line with that recorded by total Italian agri-food exports, which posted +5.8% in 2023 (the districts account for 43% of this).
The only supply chain that shows a slightly negative sign in the annual trend is the wine sector, and overall it only achieved a slight drop in value (-0.7%). Although among the districts, the performance of Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene stands out positively (+4.3%), in addition to the wines and spirits of Friuli (+9.2%), Bolzano (+6.6%) and Trento (+2.3%). On the other hand, three large districts suffered with the wines of the Langhe, Roero and Monferrato (-4.4%), the Florentine and Sienese hills (-4.5%) and the Verona area (-1.9%).

 The pasta and confectionery sector is slowing down, but remains in positive territory: the slight drop in the fourth quarter (-0.6% trend) does not affect the positive balance for 2023 (+4.8%), i.e. 214 million more sales on foreign markets. Of these, a good 142 million were achieved by the pasta and desserts segment of the Parma food industry. Excellent performance also for Alba and Cuneo Sweets (+5%). On the other hand, the agricultural districts sector recovered, thanks to the excellent result of the fourth quarter (+14.2%), which brought the balance for the entire year back into the positive (+3.2%). There was an excellent recovery for Romagna's fruit and vegetable sector: despite the damage caused by the flood and spring frost, it closed 2023 in the black (+1.7%).