Italy is Country of the Year at BioFach 2007

Italy is pure enjoyment for all senses: holiday, sun, impressive countryside, but above all perfect hospitality and excellent Mediterranean cuisine – increasingly with organic ingredients. BioFach 2007 presents Italy as Country of the Year. The World Organic Trade Fair in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 15-18 February 2007 expects 2,100 exhibitors from 73 nations (at the last event) and over 37,000 visitors from over 100 countries of the world. Italy has been the country with the most exhibitors after Germany for years. At the last event, 273 Italian organic producers and traders presented thousands of their popular delicatessen articles to willing buyers among the organic professionals.

Picture: Italian conviviality

Organic farming has a long tradition in Italy. The first farmers and co-operatives converted to organic in the seventies and supplied the newly opened organic food shops in Germany with highly popular oranges, lemons, rice and organic pasta. The durum wheat noodles naturally needed the popular tomato sauce, so a variety of processed tomato products developed. Not forgetting olive oil, preferably extra vergine, which enjoyed great popularity on the European organic market at an early stage. The range of Italian organic products developed rapidly in the course of the years. The choice of Mediterranean delicatessen specialities like antipasti, wines, fine cheese and sausages or sweet delicatessen like chestnut or fig jam is growing constantly. These products find their way into an increasing number of specialist shops and supermarkets throughout Europe. Organic farmers in Italy manage around one million ha of agricultural land. According to information from the new organic federation Federbio ( www.federbio.it) set up in 2005, 47,000 companies – as many as 20 % more than in 2004 – produce, process or trade organic food.

Market growth mainly in Northern Italy

The more prosperous north of the country currently tends to show more growth in the sale of organic products. Although the south and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia have the largest shares of organic cultivation, the consumers there still only show moderate interest in organic products. According to estimates by the Italian organic market expert Roberto Pinton (environmental and organic portal  www.greenplanet.net), domestic market sales in 2005 amounted to some 1.7 billion EUR plus exports worth 700 million EUR. This figure of 2.4 billion EUR means Italy is one of the most important European organic markets. By comparison: Sales in Germany, Europe’s biggest organic market, were some 3.9 billion EUR in 2005. Italian supermarket chains register moderate growth rates for organic products. The specialist trade, including many organic supermarkets, can even boast two-figure growth rates. In Pinton’s (picture) opinion, the organic food shops hold the largest market shares with 45 %, followed by the conventional retail food trade (40 %), bulk consumers like canteens or refectories (10 %) and direct marketers (5 %).

There are about 1,000 organic food shops and 50 organic supermarkets in Italy. The franchise chain NaturaSì, which also operates four organic supermarkets in Spain, owns 44 of these. The company also has two organic restaurants, two butcheries named CarneSi and a wellness centre. NaturaSi increased its sales by 15 % in 2005. The company Brio, in which the organic farmers hold the majority of shares, is the largest Italian trading company at producer level. It achieved sales of 29 million EUR in 2005 and intends to add another 6 million EUR in 2006. The food chains Esselunga, Carrefour, Billa/Rewe, Conad, Crai, Despar/Spar, Selex, Todis and Pam also stock a good range of organic products.

Large organic campaign attracts attention

Biobenessere, which is equivalent to organic wellness, is the name of a five million EUR project (co-financed by the EU) that has caused considerable publicity in Italy since 200
( www.biobenessere.it). As many as 11,000 promotion days with tastings and price campaigns took place in supermarkets or organic food shops and reached more than 2.1 million people. The organizer is the regional organic farmers association Prober (picture) from Emilia Romagna, which with about 4,000 members is the biggest of its kind in Italy ( www.prober.it). More than 150 whole-page advertisements, 100 TV and radio spots and stands at exhibitions and conferences provided around 500,000 contacts, which open up new European-wide business opportunities for the organic companies. In addition, a number of trade magazines and Internet portals in Italy ensure a high level of information.

Direct marketing convinces with its short channels

Direct marketing by organic farmers via farm shops or at weekly markets has a long tradition in Germany. Many direct marketers began selling direct to customers as long ago as the seventies and eighties, when well-developed marketing channels for organic products were not available. This segment is now starting to grow in Italy. Organic consumers are also joining forces in small groups to buy jointly from farmers in the surrounding area. The new co-ops under the name Gas (Gruppi d'acquisto solidali) organize their joint buying and distribution to the members. www.retegas.org provides addresses of farmers and consumer groups involved in this direct marketing. The first box schemes are also available in the meantime, which deliver a usually standard box of fruit and vegetables to a growing number of consumers once a week.

More and more school canteens cook organic

In 2005, 650 Italian school canteens cooked around one million organic meals a day. The Italian government passed a law back in 2000 that stipulates the use of organic ingredients in the canteens of public schools and hospitals. Initially, however, only a few local governments were prepared to grant subsidiaries and infringements of the law were not prosecuted. It therefore took some time until the regulations were implemented. The regions of Friuli, Veneto, Tuscany and Marche started organic school food between 2000 and 2002. The government of the Emilia Romagna region stipulated in 2002: Nurseries and schoolchildren are to be provided with 100 % organic food. Organic food is also increasing in restaurants. Bio-Bank, publisher of the annual trade directory Tutto Bio, has listed the addresses of 250 restaurants that use at least 70 % organic ingredients (www.biobank.it). There are about another 700 organic food offers as part of the popular agro-tourism.

Italian organic industry on the up

The organic industry in Italy sees itself on the up with the new government of Romano Prodi. The commitment to organic farming was part of the election programme of the centre-left-green parties. The new Minister of Agriculture is Paolo De Castro, who is held in high esteem. “He regards organic agriculture as important and part of a campaign for Italian quality products,” says organic market expert Pinton. De Castro met the chairman of the organic federation Federbio for an exchange of views in his first month of office and appointed an organic representative to the “Tavolo agro-alimentare” commission in which the government discusses political matters with associations in the food industry and agriculture. The organic industry in Italy therefore looks to the future with much optimism and expects a lot from the implementation of the National Organic Action Plan, which the previous government had passed in December 2005, but not implemented.

Italy is on the winning side: in the World Cup 2006 and as Country of the Year at BioFach 2007. Successful football thanks to organic? The Palermo football club, for which four of the new world champions play, feeds its footballers with organic products as recommended by its doctor.

New at BioFach 2007: Vivaness

The World Organic Trade Fair gets a lovely daughter in 2007. She is called Vivaness, the Trade Fair for Natural Personal Care and Wellness, and starts for the first time as an independent trade fair with a distinctly extended range of products and over 200 exhibitors of high-quality natural cosmetics and body care articles. BioFach and Vivaness will always take place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg at the same time.