`Value of PDO and PGI Olive Oil Production Drops in Italy - Olive Oil Times
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Value of PDO and PGI Olive Oil Production Drops in Italy

By Paolo DeAndreis
Feb. 23, 2022 12:59 UTC

Italian prod­ucts with a Protected Designation of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication or Guaranteed Traditional Specialty cer­ti­fi­ca­tion reached an over­all value of €16.6 bil­lion in 2020, accord­ing to a report from the Institute of Services for the Agricultural and Food Market (Ismea).

These PDOs, PGIs and GTSs rep­re­sent 19 per­cent of the total value of Italian agri-food pro­duc­tion. The three European Union cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are given to high-qual­ity food or drink pro­duced using tra­di­tional meth­ods in a spe­cific region.

According to Ismea, these prod­ucts made up 20 per­cent of Italian food exports in 2020, val­ued at €9.5 bil­lion. Production of the 841 Italian PDOs, PGIs or GTSs employs more than 200,000 peo­ple. There are also 286 asso­ci­a­tions ded­i­cated to pro­mot­ing and sup­port­ing these high-qual­ity regional prod­ucts.

See Also:Italian Olive Sector Must Focus on Quality for Future Success, Report Finds

Ismea said the PDO and PGI mar­ket shrank by two per­cent in 2020, com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. The insti­tute attrib­uted the decrease to restric­tions put in place dur­ing the Covid-19 pan­demic.

“These results have been pos­si­ble thanks to the com­mit­ment of the whole sec­tor, with actions of sol­i­dar­ity, sup­port to the oper­a­tors and new agree­ments with the dif­fer­ent mar­ket sub­jects,” the Ismea ana­lysts wrote.

“They are also due to a con­stant dia­logue with the insti­tu­tions that have moved to pro­tect a strate­gic sec­tor through spe­cific mea­sures, guar­an­tee­ing PDO and PGI prod­uct chains and the econ­omy of the Italian ter­ri­to­ries,” they added.

According to the report, the Italian olive oil sec­tor is among those hit the hard­est by the chal­leng­ing weather and the mar­ket con­di­tions.

The data show that the 49 Italian extra vir­gin olive oils with E.U. pro­tected sta­tus employ more than 23,000 peo­ple and gen­er­ate a total value of €71 mil­lion, which rep­re­sented one per­cent of the PDO, PGI and GTS Italian mar­ket in 2020. This fig­ure rep­re­sents a 14-per­cent drop com­pared with the pre­vi­ous year.

According to Ismea, a large por­tion of the pro­duc­tion drop came from the Terra di Bari PDO in Puglia. Producers in the Terra di Bari PDO region have faced sev­eral chal­lenges, such as bad weather and the con­tin­ued spread of Xylella fas­tidiosa.

Due to those con­di­tions, Terra di Bari PDO came after Toscano PGI in terms of mar­ket value in 2020 and before Sicilia PGI, Val di Mazara PDO and Riviera Ligure PDO.

Ismea also noted how the PDOs and PGI extra vir­gin olive oils still rep­re­sent only a mar­ginal value on the over­all olive oil pro­duc­tion.

However, the value of PGIs is grow­ing. Exports in 2020 topped €52 mil­lion, with 38 per­cent of PGI pro­duc­tion exported. Tuscany, Sicily and Puglia account for 70 per­cent of the over­all value of the E.U.-protected extra vir­gin olive oils.

Last year, a sep­a­rate Ismea report said over­all Italian food and bev­er­ages exports reached €52 bil­lion, an 11-per­cent increase com­pared with 2020.

This brought the total value well over the €43.6 bil­lion reported in 2020, and the €48 bil­lion reported the year before.

In 2021, Italian agri-food imports grew by 12 per­cent com­pared with 2020 and reached €48 bil­lion.

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