Parma Food Valley is worth 8.2 billion and 33% comes from exports
More than a thousand companies employing 25 thousand people in different supply chains: from Parmesan to ham, from milk to pasta, from tomatoes to anchovies
3' min read
3' min read
It has always been one of the key districts of the made-in-Italy agro-food industry, not only in terms of turnover developed but above all for its ability to draw some important guidelines that have become over time the keys to success for the entire Italian agro-food industry: quality and internationalisation. This is the 'Food Valley' of Parma, a district that is able to field outstanding figures: 8.2 billion in turnover, 2.7 billion of which linked to exports, equal to an incidence of 33% of the total.
A district that historically had its pillars in the production of Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma (two of the top 5 Italian PDOs in terms of turnover) but then developed mainly thanks to brands such as Barilla and Parmalat. Today, the Parma Food Valley represents 6 different supply chains ranging from PDO ham to Parmigiano, from milk (Parmalat) to pasta (Barilla), from tomatoes (with Mutti and Rodolfi Mansueto) to - though without overlooking the sea - anchovies (with brands such as Delicius, Rizzoli Emanuelli and Zarotti). Supply chains that have allowed Parma in 2023 to take second place out of 110 Italian provinces in terms of food export turnover with an incidence on Italian food and wine exports of 5.1%, up from 4.8% in 2022. In first place in the Ismea Qualività ranking is Treviso, which has 700 million bottles of Prosecco.
The Parma Food Valley has 1,052 companies employing over 15 thousand direct workers, numbers that with the allied industries rise to 1,519 companies and 25 thousand employees. But above all, supply chains that are an expression of both the requirement for quality, such as the great PDOs, and the drive towards internationalisation with brands such as Barilla.
In addition to the significant economic values, the growth and consolidation of Parma Food Valley also includes the important recognition obtained in 2005 when the EU Commission decided to locate the headquarters of Efsa, the European Food Safety Authority, in the city of Parma.
Parma and its Food Valley will be at the centre of a meeting on 8 May in the context of the Cibus event entitled 'Parma's agrifood industry: economic results and initiatives of the various supply chains for the valorisation of the territory' organised by the Parma Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy Foundation.
