Italian food exports to Ireland forecast to hit €500m this year

Italy is hoping to achieve agri-foods exports to the State of about €500 million this year as part of a wider move to boost trade with Ireland.

Speaking to The Irish Times on the eve of a week-long global promotion of Italian cuisine, its ambassador to Ireland, Ruggero Corrias, noted that agri-foods exports here last year amounted to €350 million, with growth in 2023 targeted at about 35 per cent.

Italian agri-food exports here hit €290 million in the first six months of 2023. Mr Corrias said pasta, tomato-related products, wine and cheese were the best sellers.

“Food and agricultural product is growing by 34 per cent more or less,” he said. “For this year, it would bring us close to half a billion [euro]. It’s a big number and it’s growing. Exports have changed so much in recent years. If I go to a supermarket now I can easily buy what I need to cook Italian at home from any type of pasta, to guanciale (pig cheek), to canned tomatoes to biscuits and cookies and Italian cold cuts or olives.”

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The eighth edition of the global Italian cuisine week will involve more than 1,500 events this month planned for 100 countries to promote Italian produce. On Thursday, Italian chef Carlo Cracco, who has won five Michelin stars during his career, will be in Dublin to help prepare a dinner at the ambassador’s residence in Lucan.

Mr Corrias noted that there was a 55 per cent rise in trade between Italy and Ireland in the first half of this year (to €6 billion), putting it down to a “big resumption” in the Irish economy post-Covid. It’s biggest exports are machinery tools, pharma, chemicals and agri-foods.

Italian exports here last year amounted to €8.6 billion but are forecast to hit about €12 billion this year, he said.

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Mr Corrias noted that one quarter of pasta dishes all over the world are made with Italian pasta. This equates to 3.6 tonnes of pasta annually with a value of €7 billion. “It’s big numbers only for pasta.”

Italy’s agri-foods exports globally are worth €64 billon, some 15 per cent of the country’s GDP. Mr Corrias said the global Italian cuisine week was designed to put a spotlight on its food products and to help boost its exports.

“The goal is not only to promote agri-business but also to promote the way we eat, which of course is connected to the way we export,” the ambassador said. “We consume a lot of vegetables and fruit, moderate [amounts of] wine, olive oil instead of butter. It’s not only about pizza and pasta.”