Simone Greene, Milan Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
After two years of contraction Italian’s expenditure on food showed signs of recovery, albeit slow, with 2015 finishing in the green. According to Neilson and Ismea surveys, which contain data up until November of 2015, domestic food expenditure rose by 0.4% with respect to 2014 figures. It is expected that this small increase up until November could be bolstered by the Christmas season sales in 2015, which appear to be livelier than 2014.
A more in-depth analysis of the sector shows a variety of trends for different products Fixed weight products showed a sharp increase on 2014 figures (+ 2.2%). This increase was mainly due thanks to increased sales for products such as water (+9%), beer (+6%) and olive oil (+19%). On the contrary there was a downward trend in expenditure on variable weight and fresh products which fell over all by -2.8%. The biggest decreases occurred for meat (-5.8%) and milk (-3.4%). But other variable weight and fresh products also experienced increases such as fish products (4.8%) as well as fresh vegetables and fruit (2.5% and 4.7%).
According to Ismea one of the biggest drivers behind the shift in purchasing behaviour was increased awareness of Italian consumers, of the close relationship between nutrition and well-being. This connection was underlined by Milan Expo 2015 and amplified by the Italian media and was demonstrated by an increase in the purchase of fruit, vegetables and fish and a similar drop in spending on fresh meat (especially pork) and cold cuts.
Looking at the meat sector in greater detail, beef and poultry showed dips in expenditure but pork was the worst hit with a decline of -9% in spending. This decrease was affected by the WHO report as well as an excess of pork production at EU level. In the pork sector only hams (both cooked and cured) managed to remain largely unchanged with most categories experiencing declines including salami (-4.5%) and Frankfurters (-7.3%).
For more information please contact simone.greene@bordbia.ie