Tuna, consumption as before Covid. Ancit: period of consolidation after cost boom

Canned tuna remains a much-loved product among Italians: it is bought by 96% of families who appreciate its practicality and convenience (58.6%), with almost 40% choosing it as a valid alternative to fresh fish or meat (AstraRicerche). This is also the reason why the canned fish sector is managing to cope with a difficult period, which has had a peak in recent years mainly due to the high costs of raw materials, from tuna itself via the record prices of olive oil to sheet metal and energy bills. All this without forgetting the commitment to sustainability and at a time when the crisis and inflation have forced Italians to cut back on the amount of groceries they put in their trolley.

The 2023 data communicated by Ancit (Associazione Nazionale Conserve Ittiche e delle Tonnare which represents a sector with over 1,500 employees) still show a contraction in volumes on an annual basis, but the numbers - after the growth of the two-year period 202o-2021, thanks to a spending spree that focused on long preservation stocks - are realigning with 2019 levels, confirming that consumption is holding up. According to Ancit, this is 'a long wave of adjustment, which it is hoped will come to an end in 2024 for a new restart of the sector'.

More in detail, in 2023the national production of canned tuna stood at 73,581 tonnes (-4.9% on 2022 and -0.9% on 2019), "with a volume of the total product available for the Italian market of 143,250 tonnes (-4.9% on 2022), which fed about 2.42 kg of consumption per capita", communicate Ancit. In value, turnover was 1.67 billion (+8% on 2022 and +26.3% on 2019) . Exports reached 27,926 tonnes (+8.6% from 2019).

The fish canning sector - which also includes mackerel, anchovies in oil and sub-salted, sardines, canned salmon - mirrors that of canned tuna, with volume consumption down on 2022 (-5.9% with 18.3 thousand tonnes) but not far from the 2019 level (-3.8%).

"The market is repositioning itself compared to pre-Covid," comments Giovanni Battista Valsecchi, president of Ancit. 2023 was not an easy year for the canned fish sector, with an inflationary shock that generated a loss of volumes on the markets. In particular, the cost of olive oil, the ingredient at the heart of traditional recipes, is a cause for concern: the adversities of climate change, from drought to pathogens, are reflected in the drop in production with a consequent increase in its price. But beyond the difficulties that the market is experiencing (and which affect the food and pre-packaged food market trends more generally), we are comforted to know that, compared to 2019 (after the peaks recorded in 2020-2021), consumption in volume terms has remained substantially stable and that, in the meantime, the industry has moved forward in the direction of new products and innovation. We are faced with a settling phase that has not yet found its definitive fall point, for a hoped-for revival of the sector. The pace of the domestic market is also confirmed in exports, which are settling with values that are still higher than in 2019. The drop point compared to 2019 is still positive'.