CATANZARO During Easter week, consumption of traditional products increases and in particular those of the confectionery sector, a sector with a high artisan vocation also in Calabria. In our region, 2,523 pastry shops and companies in the confectionery sector are affected by the typical consumption of Easter products – a sector that includes fresh pastries, ice cream, biscuits, cocoa, chocolate, confectionery, etc. – with a high artisan vocation: there are 1,984 artisan businesses, representing 78.6% of the total businesses in the sector. Greater presence of artisan pastry shops and confectionery companies in the provinces of Vibo Valentia (87.5%) and Reggio Calabria (84.4%). “Calabria boasts a rich variety of 270 products with a high artisanal vocation. These products, made in local laboratories, not only offer a unique gastronomic experience, but also represent a conscious choice for health and well-being – underline the regional president of Confartigianato Calabria, Roberto Matragrano -. The artisans of the confectionery sector have a fundamental role in the territory, in addition to that of producing quality: passing down family recipes from generation to generation, keeping regional culinary traditions alive”.
The Easter table with traditional products – The biodiversity of Calabria’s agri-food production, with a high artisanal vocation, is expressed in as many as 270 traditional agri-food products, characterized by processing, conservation and seasoning methods consolidated over time (Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, 2023). Analyzing by type, fresh pasta and bakery, biscuit, pastry and confectionery stand out with 87 products, equal to 32.2% of the total, followed by 74 vegetable products in their natural or processed state, equal to 27.4% of the total and 28 fresh meat (and offal) and their preparation, equal to 10.4%: these three types of products concentrate a good 70% of the total. Despite the persistence of some tensions on the costs of raw materials, a slowdown in the dynamics of pastry prices is observed. For sugar in 2023 there was an increase of 28.4% on an annual basis, while cocoa prices on international markets in February 2024 more than doubled (+107.9%) compared to a year earlier. Compared to last Easter, consumer prices of fresh pastry products recorded a growth rate of +3.3%. Instead, if we consider the three-year period 2021-2024, the prices of fresh pastries grew by 10.9%, less than half the prices of food products (+21.2%) and the prices of packaged pastries (+23.6% ). One last fact: in Calabria there are 150 pastry chefs, ice cream makers and artisan canners and artisan bakers and pasta makers missing, 1 in 4 (25.8%) of the 580 expected to join.
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