The PDO Economy has resumed its pre-pandemic pace, and in 2021 the Italian quality food & wine sector reached a new record in production turnover with a value of 19.1 billion euros (+16.1 percent over the previous year) and exports of 10.7 billion (+12.8 percent). These figures are also due to the contribution of the PDO and PGI sector, which scores a 21 percent share of the total turnover of the Italian agri-food sector.

The system revolves around 198,842 operators and 291 protection consortia. These are the figures emerging from the Ismea-Qualivita 2022 report on Italian PDO and PGI products presented in Rome. In overall sales, wine triumphs with a turnover of 11.16 billion against 7.97 billion for food products. On the export front, then, wine reached an overseas value of 6.29 billion (+13 percent) while food hit 4.41 billion (+12.5 percent).

Among the various categories, the best performance in foreign markets comes from PDO wines and sparkling wines, followed then by cheeses, balsamic vinegars and meat products. "On the other hand, with regard to the economic impacts of the PDO and PGI supply chains, 2021," the Ismea-Qualivita report reads, "showed growth for 18 out of 20 regions, with more than half of the cases posting double-digit percentage changes. In particular, the four regions of the Northeast exceeded the 10 billion euro mark overall and for the first time. Also growing were the Northwest (+10.8 percent), the Center (+15.5 percent) but also the South and Islands (+13.2 percent)."