Red meat in crisis? Italy is 60% dependent on foreign countries

It is not an easy period for the red meat sector in Italy. On the one hand, the costs incurred by breeders remain high. And, in a vicious circle, they push up prices, contributing to stagnating consumption. On the other, the low profit margins, the few prospects for market growth and the uncertainties over the anti-emission rules of the European green deal curb investments and increase dependence on foreign countries, especially for the supply of calves.

Although the first part of the year saw a recovery in national production of almost 10% over the same period in 2023, according to the latest snapshot taken by Ismea, Italy is 60% dependent on foreign countries for its beef needs. A quota that includes both imported live animals (to be then fattened and slaughtered) and the product coming directly from beyond the borders. The self-sufficiency rate has in fact fallen to 40.3% in 2023. "It is the lowest share in the last ten years and remains among the lowest in the European Union," underlines Ismea. The ratio was reversed in 2010, with the level of self-sufficiency then dropping 20 points in less than 15 years, with an acceleration in the post-Covid period.

According to data from the national zootechnical registry, between 2019 and 2023 the number of cattle farms with a 'meat production orientation' decreased by about 15 thousand units, from 100 thousand farms to 85 thousand, with a contraction in the herd of more than 73 thousand heads. In terms of production, however, Italy remains in third place in Europe (together with Spain) with 11% of production and a turnover of 6.3 billion. "In spite of this," Ismea emphasises, "Italy is very different from the other countries in terms of self-sufficiency: compared to an average EU rate of 103%, it goes from Ireland's 549%, which supplies meat mainly to the UK, to France's 139%, Spain's 115%, and Germany's 105%.

 "The trade balance is in deficit by 3.5 billion, a negative figure second only to seafood," comments Fabio del Bravo, head of Ismea's supply chain and market analysis department. There is a problem of breeding farm closures due to costs, lack of attractiveness and generational turnover that also means depopulation and economic and social desertification of the territories. 85% of live animals come from France alone and it takes little to block the Italian production machine. We need better recognition of the quality product and greater aggregation and compactness between the links in the chain'.

"It is necessary to finance in a targeted manner the breeders who intend to develop the cow-calf line," says Assocarni President Serafino Cremonini, "in particular through the use of hilly and mountainous areas in the south and subsequent fattening in the stables of the Po Valley. In this way we would be able to reduce dependence on imports of store calves, which are becoming increasingly expensive and less and less available. Such a measure would also enhance the value of meat produced in Italy and sustainable practices in line with EU policies. It is essential to support those who breed suckler cows and encourage a generational transition that can only take place if this work, which is not easy, is adequately remunerated'. Help in this sense could come from the supply chain contracts that should be starting next year thanks to the funds of the NRP.