«Being among the top regions in Italy in terms of economic and commercial relations established with the USA means for our Piedmont to have increased competitiveness and attractiveness – comments President Cirio – Our work on the one hand supports the growth of export activities towards the United States, which are worth almost 10% of sales of Piedmontese products abroad, on the other hand it favors the establishment of important American businesses in our territory. The third axis of this solid bond is represented by tourism, with more and more US visitors choosing our territory to live a unique experience, in which culture, beauty and art combine with excellent food and wine and the presence of large-scale events. world championship, such as the Tour de France or the ATP Finals. Our objective now is to deploy new resources to fuel these exchanges which constitute a driving force for the economy and employment of Piedmont and its businesses.”
The Piedmontese focus is on the products, networking services and commercial opportunities put in place to increase the competitiveness of the territory and its businesses.
The presence in New York is managed by the Region within the integrated agri-food chain project, created with Ceipiemonte.
The program
Every day at the fair is animated by cooking demonstrations and tastings of recipes and typical Piedmontese products prepared by Silvia Baldini, award-winning chef, entrepreneur and book author.
On June 24, at 5 pm, an “extra fair” appointment for Piedmontese excellences: in the De Gustibus cooking school, hosted by television producer Kathy McCabe, a profound expert on Piedmont, a special aperitif will be served which will tell American journalists about Piedmont’s autumn offer, with a specific focus on major food and wine events, but not only that, as we will talk about the Salone del Gusto, the International Alba White Truffle Fair, the ATP Tennis Finals. The event, organized with the support of Enit, will see Silvia Baldini try her hand at preparing a traditional Piedmontese first course and dessert.
The value of trade between Piedmont and the USA
The United States continues to be a very attractive country for Piedmont and in the first quarter of 2024, as highlighted by Unioncamere Piemonte’s calculations on Istat data, they confirmed themselves as the main reference market outside the EU borders, generating 8, 3% of the value of sales of Piedmontese products abroad.
Specifically, as regards Piedmontese exports to the USA, Istat forecasts say that for the second consecutive year its value should be around 1.3 billion euros. A result that places Piedmont in fifth place in the national ranking of regions that trade with the USA, the same position that our territory occupies when imports from the USA are taken into consideration, amounting to approximately 450 million euros.
Looking at the individual sectors, those with the greatest impact on exports to the USA are those of machinery and equipment not classified elsewhere (361 million), that of means of transport (330 million) and the agri-food sector, which stood out for solid growth: 172 million euros in 2024, up compared to 159 million in 2023 (+8.17%) and 157 million in 2022 (+9.55%). Textile exports (78 million; +21.87% compared to 2023) and metals (56 million; +2.1%) are also growing.
The United States is also confirmed among the top four target countries for aerospace, automotive, biotechnology, ICT, energy and environment, high-end products, textiles and agri-food as part of the new 2024 and 2025 integrated supply chain projects financed by the Region under on the ERDF 2021-27 and created by Ceipiemonte.
Among the internationalization activities there are also numerous participations in international fairs, business conventions and congresses, such as the Summer Fancy Food, and the organization of workshops, business conventions and events in the Piedmont area with the involvement of companies and buyers coming from the United States.
Particularly significant, then, is the presence of US-capital companies in Piedmont. In the ranking, led by French companies, the United States occupies second place: despite representing only 9.8% of foreign capital companies active in Piedmont, they employ almost 20% of the workers and produce 20.4% of the turnover.
The solid bond between Piedmont and the USA is also manifested in the tourism field, where in 2023 – the record year with over 6 million arrivals and 16 million presences on the Piedmontese territory – the presence of tourists from the United States increased by almost 35% compared to 2022. In the last ten years, over 136 thousand arrivals and almost 359 thousand overnight stays have been recorded from the USA, with an increase of over 70% compared to 2014. The Piedmontese destinations preferred by Americans are Turin and its first belt, the lakes and the hills with respectively approximately 33% (for Turin and the lakes) and 25% of the share of overnight stays registered compared to the regional total.
