Wine threatens to be the Italian product most likely to suffer as a result of the UK's exit from the EU, according to a report by economic research and consulting company Nomisma.
Wine exports to the UK totalled €657 million (13%) in 2014 and €746 million (14%) in 2015, respectively. Other popular agrifood exports include cheese, pasta and meat, each with an export value of about €230 million in 2015.
UK shoppers rate mozzarella and parmesan as their preferred Italian cheeses, accrediting uniqueness of flavour (for 42% of consumers), traditional character of production (29%) and good-value (18%) as the reason why.
Overall, Italian agrifood exports to the UK in 2015 exceeded €3.2 billion, compared to €2.96 billion the previous year and €1.9 billion ten years ago.
The favourable trend continued in Q1 2016, registering a 3 per cent growth.
One of the obstacles and difficulties for Italian food exports and possibly amplified by Brexit, is the ‘traffic light labelling’ system.
When first introduced, the system had negative effects on sales of Italian products in the UK.
Nomisma notes that 8 out of 10 British consumers have bought at least one Italian food product in the last year.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
