Sardinian food and beverage exports are worth almost 260 million: +10.3%

Sardinian food and beverages are increasingly popular with foreign consumers. And export data between August 2023 and the same period in 2024, of pasta, bread, sweets, cheeses, meat, fruit, fish and beverages, fresh or preserved, confirm this by recording a +10.3% in sales for a total value of 258 million euros. In 2016 alone, exports in this sector amounted to 191 million euros. All this is revealed by the report of the Research Office of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna, on Istat 2023-2024 data according to which our best customers include Germany, the United States, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

The analysis says that 230 million euros of exports are generated by food and almost 28 by beverages. Still low, however, is the weight of Sardinian food and beverage exports on the added value which is only 0.8%, against the national 3.4%. At a territorial level, almost 24 million euros of exports are generated by Cagliari, with 22 million of food and almost 2 of beverages with a +60.9% of sales between August 2023 and August 2024; Nuoro contributes with 51 million, of which 49 food and 1.5 beverages with an increase of +7%; Oristano has 39 million in exports, composed of 37 food and 1.5 beverages for a decrease of -18.2%; Sassari-Gallura have 124 million euros of exports of which 113 food and almost 12 beverages for a growth of +22.3%; Southern Sardinia has 19.5 million in exports, of which 8.5 are food and 11 are beverages, for a contraction of -12.4%.

"What comes from the agri-food sector is a very positive signal and tells us that the sector has ample room for growth - underlines Giacomo Meloni, president of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - especially if we take into account how Sardinian products are increasingly appreciated and sought after especially in countries with significant economic capacities such as those of North America, Northern Europe, Arab countries and the East. The sector demonstrates once again that it is solid and that it has been able not only to resist the economic crisis, but also to record an increase in numbers. Exports also reward our tradition and the know-how of companies. It is a real treasure that, as Confartigianato, we are committed to defending from counterfeiting, fraud and violations of the law: dangers that are growing exponentially".

"Despite the numbers, however, - says Daniele Serra, Regional Secretary of Confartigianato Sardegna - the companies in the sector are still far from expressing their full potential. In a historical moment in which there is ever greater attention to the authenticity and craftsmanship of food, a region like ours must continue to invest in order to maintain and improve its primacy in quality".

(Online Union)