Markets in Emerging Economies

One out of five Italian food products is sold in foreign markets, for a total worth of 25 billion euros in 2012 (+7% over 2011). According to forecasts from Italy’s food industry organisation Federalimentare, published by Distribuzione Moderna, exports should continue to accelerate in 2013, reaching a double-digit increase over last year’s results. The primary outlets for the Italian food and agriculture sector outside of Europe are partly the confirmation of historic trade relations, like those with the USA, where imports of Italian products in the first two months of 2013 showed a rise of 8.9%. The most significant upturn, however, came from emerging markets, such as the Middle-East with the United Arab Emirates posting +42.4%, and Saudi Arabia +30.5%. Asia also showed marked performance with Thailand (+42.3%), South Korea (+22.2%), Hong Kong (+18.9%), China (+18.3%) and Japan (+20.6%).