The foreign cheeses most often consumed in France are Italian ones: 6 out of 10 French people indicate them as their favorites to put on the table, followed at a distance by the Dutch and Spanish ones. And in liking Beyond the Alps of the Italian string cheeses in first place goes to buffalo mozzarellawith almost 7 out of 10 French people having consumed it in the last year, followed by burrata and stracciatella with consumption rates of around 50% of the French.
Buffalo mozzarella is chosen first and foremost because it is a fresh dish perfect for the summer and because it is considered one of the symbolic products of Italian cuisine. In fact, the preferred method of consumption for one in two French people is Caprese.
This is what emerges from the dataEconomic observatory on DOP buffalo mozzarella from Campania, a tool created by Protection Consortium in partnership with Nomisma and UniCredit. The 2024 edition was presented today in the spaces of Next of Paestum and is focused on comparison between the cheese market in Italy and France and on the positioning of PDO mozzarella in this scenario. For the occasion, Nomisma carried out a survey on consumers in Italy and France, illustrated by the researcher Fabio Benassi, after institutional greetings from the president of the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana Dop, Domenico Raimondo, and from the Regional Manager Sud of Unicredit, Ferdinando Natali.
At the end of the analysis, a round table followed which outlined the challenges linked to competitiveness for the future of the sector and of Made in Italy, in which the participants Andrea Pretepresident of Unioncamere; Fabian Capitanioprofessor of Agricultural Economics and Policy at the Federico II University of Naples; Pier Maria Saccanidirector of the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana Dop e D’Amico Saturdaypresident of the Its Te.La Foundation.
«As many as 90% of the French people interviewed identify Italy as one of the main countries of origin of the highest quality foreign cheeses. This further confirms the leadership of Made in Italy in the dairy sector at an international level”, he explains Benassi.
Italy is the main exporter of cheese and dairy products in France, with a share of value imports of 34% (the Netherlands follows with a weight of 19%). And from 2018 to 2023 the value grew by 80%, almost reaching 1 billion euros. The main destination country for exports of buffalo mozzarella from Campania is France with a share of 29%.
According to Nomisma, in Italy DOP Campanian buffalo mozzarella is the stretched curd cheese that people like most under 18: 40% of parents say that buffalo is their children’s favorite string cheese (compared to 37% for cow’s milk, 8% for stracciatella and 6% for burrata). A growing appreciation for Bufala PDO, so much so that 84% of national consumers would continue to buy buffalo mozzarella from Campania even if it cost more and as many as 35% would continue to buy it even if the price increased by 1 euro for each pack of 200/250g. The reasons for the success? THECompared to non-DOP products, the PDO product is perceived as being of higher quality (73% of consumers think so), safer and more controlled (66%), tastier (62%), capable of protecting animal welfare (43%). Safety and protection: these are the characteristics that according to consumers distinguish buffalo mozzarella from other stretched curd cheeses.
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