Just under 250 billion euros in production value in 2022, generated by 1.2 million businesses and 1.5 million employees. These innumbers they do of Italian Agrifood one Between the most relevant productive sectors of the national economy, protagonist in the context of the main European producers along all stages of the supply chain. About the 4% of the national turnover originates from over 55 thousand companies in Tuscany which can boast a high specialization in various supply chains of the sector and a diffusion of companies extended to all provinces.
An excellence called to reaffirm its ability to address the profound transformations underway with vision and innovation, compared to the discontinuities of the macroeconomic and geopolitical scenario, the energy crisis and climate change. Export, technological innovation andtransition environmental, the levers functional to development of an increasingly sustainable business.
UniCredit in collaboration with the Consortium tutela del Morellino di Scansano DOCG he was born in Consortium for the protection of Pecorino tOscan PDO relaunches the debate on the prospects and opportunities of the sector Agrifood of the territory with a Economies Forum. An opportunity for comparison and in-depth analysis for a focus on the region, with analyses Of Prometheiaexperts and entrepreneurs compared and a B2B That has for messo to a thirty businesses locals Of encounter 7 foreign buyerscoming from Poland, Denmark, Bosnia, Hungary, Romania and Croatia, for to boot new commercial partnerships.
The initiative is an integral part of #italianEXPeriencea path that the bank dedicates to the export of the main supply chains, and of UniCredit for Italya program to support businesses in the traditional Made in Italy sectors.
The forum created at Theater Chestnuts Of Scansano(Grosseto) was opened from greetings from Mary Bice Ginesi, Mayor of Scansano; Bernardo Guicciardini Calamai,President of the Morellino Consortium They dodge; Andrea Righini, Director of the Pecorino Protection Consortium Tuscan Dop; Andrew Burchi, Regional Manager Central North UniCredit.
Immediately afterwards, the interventions of Giampaolo MorittuSenior Special Prometeia, with a focus on Tuscany in relation toLto transition from the production chain Agrifood Between exports and sustainability; Of Alessandro Tosi, Agribusiness Corporate Italy UniCredit contact person, in relation to support financial For the businessesof the sector; And Of Simona Poloni, Regional & ITA Credit Underwriting Allianz Trade Italycentered onExport Community.
Topics being discussed, in-depth analysis and reflections on the near future of the sector during tround table on main Agrifood growth factors – theinternationalization e thennovation – which he saw participate Sergio Bucci, Director of the Scansano Winery Cellar; Giorgio Gonnelli, CEO of the Santa Téa oil mill; Marco Busti; Commercial Director Busti Formaggi Spa; Stefano Busti, President Busti Formaggi Spa; And Andrew BurchiRegional Manager Centro Nord UniCredit, to whom the completion of the works was entrusted.
“UniCredit – remarks BurchiRegional Manager Central North– supports the agri-food sector of TOscana and contributes to the development and valorisation of its territory. Our goal is to support agribusiness in growth and in the ESG transition, accompanying companies towards new innovative service models. We are committed to offering our customers products, services and consultancy capable of concretely responding to the specific needs of the supply chains. In addition to our role as financial partner, we support matching, B2B and comparison activities with important interlocutors. Initiatives like this Forum are essential to intercept the real needs of local companies and identify sustainable growth strategies”.
“NeitherL over the years Morellino has undertaken a path of growth and consolidation of the market, with particular attention to the Italian one – he comments Bernardo Guicciardini Inkwells, President of the Morellino di Scansano Consortium -. Today we are more ready than ever to present the uniqueness that characterizes our wines also in others Pstrategic countries for us. The Morellino it is an expression of our territory, a part of the Maremma, where Sangiovese it is grown near the sea. This, with other pedoclimatic factors, gives our wines some distinctive traits that blend perfectly with the tastes and palates of the new generations and winelover from all over the world. This is why we look to the future with a certain optimism, aware of the opportunities to be seized which will allow us to increase the export share of Morellino, currently around 30%. We are taking an important step thanks to UniCredit that with this forum dto the possibility for our companies to meet buyerssinternational and to create, I hope, solid commercial relationships”.
“Pecorino Toscano DOP has faced foreign markets continuously for over 30 years, finding satisfaction both in Europe and overseas, with the support of the Protection Consortium – declares Andrea Righinidirector of the Consortium for the protection of Pecorino Toscano DOP –. At the end of the month, the activity of promoting knowledge and consumption of the main DOP cheese of our region will see us protagonists of the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, the main trade fair event in North America. Also in this case, numerous dairies will be present with the Consortium to promote Pecorino Toscano DOP.”
Right away L’Prometeia analysis: The transition of the Agrifood supply chain between exports and sustainability – Focus Tuscany
Just under 250 billion euros of production value in 2022 generated by 1.2 million companies and 1.5 million employees. Numbers that matter of Italian Agrifood one of the most important production sectors of the national economy and an absolute protagonist in the context of main European producers along all stages of the supply chain. About the 4% of the national turnover originates from over 55 thousand companies in Tuscany which can boast a high specialization in various supply chains of the sector and a diffusion of companies extending to all provinces.
Italian agrifood has faced and emerged from the poly-crises of recent years better than other sectors, but it would be reductive to limit ourselves to its structural anti-cyclical qualities to explain its resilience. The sector it is in fact reaping the fruits of a process of transformation and competitive strengthening that has distant origins and has resulted in a progressive consolidation of the structure of companies (both upstream and downstream of the supply chain) and in a constant growth of its international projection.
On the latter, the Tuscany still highlights important areas for growth (the 5.7% of Italian Agrifood exports originate in the region), which can only be grasped by overcoming the stringent size limits for companies (in the industrial transformation phase the average size of Tuscan companies is equal to 2 million euros in turnover compared to the national average of 3.4) which hinder full access to the opportunities offered by international marketsnational. In recent years the territory has also highlighted a growth gap in agri-food exports both compared to the national average and to neighboring regions, suffering above all in 2023 from the weakness of foreign sales in the wine and horticultural sector.
The agrifood supply chain is central is in large processes and on a global scale. Styear changing the face of commercial and environmental policies, consumption trends and the concept of sustainability. Security of supplies and access to new markets, energy and digital revolution, prevention of hydrogeological instability, protection of the territory and its social and economic peculiarities and, last but not least, food health, they are the main channels through which major global changes are transmitted to agrifood.
In light of the not particularly brilliant prospects of the internal market, which is weighed down by penalizing demographic trends that are now well defined, the greatest growth opportunities for Italian and Tuscan Agrifood they will still be to be seized in foreign markets. Continuing along the internationalization path will allow the sector to safeguard activity levels, in the face of a domestic market which, at best, will remain substantially stagnant in the coming years. The positive prospective scenario of advanced economies, albeit with due caution, should facilitate the internationalization path even for smaller companiesin light of the greater accessibility of these markets compared to emerging ones and the recrecognition of the quality of Italian food production by foreign consumers.
But the challenges for the future do not only concern foreign markets, involving the very way of understanding agricultural and food processing activities. The driving force of the transformation istechnological innovationnot only intended to increase yields, productivity or sales (mechanisation, digitalisation of business processes and marketing channels), but intertwined with its environmental “twin”.to reduce the impact of agricultural activities on the environment (activities which are the most affected by ongoing climate change) and increase the efficiency of energy and other inputs (primarily water) of all company processes.
Challenges which, even if perceived as imposed by legislative-regulatory activity at European level, find a counterpart in the new sensitivity of societywhich shows an increasing appreciation for products that demonstrate a real commitment to protecting the environment, for tourist destinations that combine holidays and cultural riches (to which many agri-food specialties rightly belong) and landscape and which is increasingly worried about the possible irreversible effects of climate change (especially in the new generations). The very concept of product quality is now understood in a broader sense by consumers all over the world and includes numerous themes, from attention to traditions and territorial typicalities to the growing sensitivity towards the sustainability of production processes in all its meanings. From this point of view, the Made in Italy offer clearly represents an invaluable competitive advantage for Italian companies, given that it summarizes much of the aspirations of consumers around the world.
