Made in Italy agri-food toasts the five-year suspension of duties between the EU and the US signed yesterday in Brussels between the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen. The stop saves half a billion euros of Italian exports including cheeses, cured meats, liqueurs, citrus fruits and fruit juices, which from October 2019 to February 2021 suffered additional duties of 25% due to the dispute over public aid to the Airbus and Boeing groups.
The agreement between the US and the EU comes just over three months after the temporary suspension of the additional tariff: “Excellent news – commented the president of Confagricoltura, Massimiliano Giansanti – and an additional stimulus for economic recovery and for the improvement of exports agri-food. The United States is the first outlet market outside the EU for the Made in Italy sector. Already this year it will be possible to cross the historic milestone of 50 billion euros in sales on international markets ». In 2020 Italy exported food and drinks to the US for a value of 4.9 billion, “but in the first quarter of 2021 our exports fell by 2% – recalled the president of Coldiretti, Ettore Prandini -. With Biden it is important to start a constructive dialogue to return to grow together in a dramatic moment due to the effects of the pandemic ».
Loading…
Even the CIA-Italian farmers considers this first agreement between the US and the EU a first step towards the return of multilateralism in trade: “Made in Italy agri-food is a sector particularly sensitive to trade, with exports worth 46 billion euros in the last year – said the national president of the CIA, Dino Scanavino-. For this reason, we are satisfied with this return to dialogue, to definitively overcome the nightmare of customs duties and expand the opportunities to create wealth through exports ».
“The new course frees our great excellences, including Grana Padano, Gorgonzola,
Asiago, Fontina and Provolone – recalled Luigi Scordamaglia, managing director of Filiera Italia – we hope that the stop to duty taxes will give a new propulsive boost to our products and represent the first antibody to the phenomenon of Italian sounding, which even today in the USA alone it is worth more than 20 billion euros ».
The cheeses
As for the cheese sector, the backlash of the additional 25% tariffs wanted by the Trump administration had already made itself felt in 2020, when Italian exports to the US had decreased by 17% in volume and 19% in value. The United States is the third market for our cheeses, with sales of around 340 million euros: “Although the first two months of 2021 still recorded -35% in volume – explained the president of Assolatte, Paolo Zanetti – already since March, with the first suspension of customs duties, our exports to the US have started to run again, with + 39% which makes us very optimistic for the near future ». 2020 had closed with a loss of 70 million for Italian dairy exports to the US: “The United States is a market that is worth 10% of our world exports and which, for some supply chains such as Pecorino Romano, arrive to absorb even 40% of national production ”, recalled Giovanni Guarneri, coordinator of the dairy sector of Alleanza delle Cooperative.