Italian agri-food is worth 512 billion euros, 17% of GDP, despite the 2.5% decline accused in the annus horribilis of the pandemic. The data comes from the 2020 edition of the Italian agriculture yearbook edited by Crea, according to which our country continues to hold the primacy of DOP and IGP products within the EU.
The importance of foreign workers is growing, which in 2020 came to represent 18.5% of the total, well above their weight on the average of the economy which is equal to 10.2%. Fifteen years ago, the percentage of foreign labor was worth only 4.3% of the total, but since 2008, following the enlargement of the European Union to Romania and Bulgaria, the pace of growth has become more rapid.
Due to the lockdown imposed by Covid, however, in 2020 some economic sectors linked to the primary sector fell significantly: in the first place there is the fish segment, which collapsed by 26% in volumes and 28% in value; farmhouses follow, whose revenues fell by 21%, and livestock, which fell by 9%. On the other hand, public expenditure on agriculture is confirmed as significant, amounting to approximately 11 billion euros, of which 64% comes from the European Union; national funds cover 16%, while regional funds cover the remaining 20%.
The Italian agri-food sector was driven by exports. In 2020 there is a reversal of the sign of the agri-food trade balance, the balance of which, after the breakeven of the previous year, for the first time shows a positive value, equal to 2.6 billion euros.
In these times of attention to sustainability and a green turning point, the contribution of agri-food to the bioeconomy is undisputed, with a weight of over 63% of total turnover, which according to Crea places Italy – together with Germany and France – in a leadership position at European level. And it is thanks to the primary sector that the weight of the bioeconomy on the total national economy has risen to 10.2%.