Provolone Valpadana PDO: Mercosur target, but also promotion in Italia
Production down by 8%, but the market is holding up in value thanks to higher prices. Promotion programmes both in Italia, with investments of 2.5 million, and in South America and Australia
by E.Sg.
Provolone Valpadana DOP invests in promotion to consolidate its position in Italia - where the market is holding up in terms of value but shrinking in terms of quantity produced - but above all to grow abroad, where there is ample room to strengthen its current 13% share of revenues (down by 10% between 2023 and 2024 according to the Ismea Qualivita Observatory). The strategy of the Consortium for the Protection of Provolone Valpadana, illustrated at the General Assembly of members, "aims to consolidate its presence on mature markets and open up new areas of development," say the Consortium.
On the one hand promotion will continue in Australia with the three-year European 2025-2027 programme 'Original Profiles of Quality (Opq)', which involves operators in the sector, restaurants and consumers, and on the other a promotional programme in Brazil and Argentina of about two million will be started.
'We want to be prepared to make the most of the start of the exchange agreement with Mercosur,' comments Giovanni Guarneri, confirmed at the head of the Consortium. 'These are markets where there is already a strong tradition of consumption of cheeses similar to ours, thanks to an important presence of Italian communities, and eating habits close to the Mediterranean tradition. More generally, strengthening the positioning of Provolone Valpadana DOP in international markets is the key to sustaining the value of the chain and accompanying its future growth'.
On the production front, 2025 recorded a drop of 8%, with more than 6,800 tonnes of cheese produced, against about 64mils tonnes of milk for processing, but the value of the product held up, with average prices on the rise: "the mild Provolone Valpadana reached 8.27 euros per kg, while the piquant was 8.54 euros per kg, marking increases of 7.9% and 7.6% respectively on an annual basis," say the Consortium. The production value therefore remains substantially stable with respect to the 53 million recorded by the Ismea Qualivita Observatory in 2024 (95 the consumer turnover), making Provolone Valpadana the eighth PDO cheese in the country.
"The increase in milk quotations has led to an increase in cheese prices and therefore a contraction in certified volumes," points out Guarneri, who therefore attributes the drop above all to technical issues linked to the milk quotation cycle and who says he is nonetheless satisfied "because the good quotations have remunerated the members well".
In this regard, it must also be considered that the price offered by some 'competing' PDO Consortia for milk has been particularly high and this may have led to a transfer of the farmers' contributions. In addition, at a time of declining purchasing power on the part of households, they may have shifted at least part of their purchases to non-PDO Provolone, which is in a lower price bracket.
However, the objective is to also strengthen on the domestic front, where a communication campaign will start in 2027 for which a budget of 2.5 million euro is planned, 'with the aim of strengthening knowledge of the certified product and supporting, in the medium term, a recovery in production. We have seen that the PDO symbol is increasingly recognised and appreciated, and we want to enhance it as has been done, for example, in the Consortium's new logo,' Guarneri reiterates.
