World Grain - May 2014 - 24

COUNTRY FOCUS

Focus on Italy
World's top pasta producer boasts
thriving milling industry
by Chris Lyddon

Italy is known the world over as the home of pasta, and Italy's
grains sector is notable for the importance of durum wheat processing. Exports of pasta have helped Italy's ﬂour milling sector outperform some other parts of the economy in recent, difﬁcult years.
The International Grains Council (IGC) puts Italy's total grain
production in 2013-14 at 16.3 million tonnes, down from 16.8 million the year before. Of that, total production of all wheat is put at
7.3 million tonnes, down from 7.7 the prior year. The maize crop
is put at 7.6 million tonnes, up from 7.5 million the year before.
Italy's durum wheat crop is projected at 4 million tonnes, down
from 4.2 million the previous year.

LIECH.
SWITZERLAND

MILLING INDUSTRY
According to the milling industry body Italmopa, Italian milling employs 4,500 people in 375 mills. Production of ﬂour,
wheat ﬂour and durum wheat semolina amounted in 2012 to
7.445 million tonnes (including 3.884 million tonnes of wheat
ﬂour and 3.561 million tonnes of durum wheat). The association notes that, at the time, demand for food industry products
fell, but exports of pasta and confectionary allowed it to keep
production relatively stable.
The total turnover of the milling sector in
2012 was about €3.619 billion, an increase
of 2.2% compared to 2011 (€3.538 billion).
The increase in turnover was mainly drivITALY
en by an increase in the prices of byproducts
of the milling industry for livestock that have
experienced signiﬁcant increases, especially
in the sector of common wheat, the association said. It also noted that increased energy
and transport costs and more difﬁcult access
to credit were likely to squeeze already tight
proﬁt margins in the sector.
Production of durum semolina for the pasta industry
was about 3.561 million tonnes in 2012, according to
Italmopa. Its ﬁgure for 2011 was 3.524 million. Demand for semolina was supported by an increase in pasta exports.
The positive trend in exports has helped to offset the effect of a
long-term down trend in pasta consumption in Italy.
Production of wheat ﬂour fell to 3.844 million tonnes in 2012,
AUSTRIA

HUNGARY

SLOVENIA

CROATIA

FRANCE

MONACO
Corsica
(FR.)

SAN
MARINO

TUNISIA

MALTA

BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA

MONTENEGRO
CROATIA

VATICAN
CITY

ALGERIA

SERBIA

Key Facts
Capital: Rome
Population: 61,680,122 (July 2013 est.)
Religions: Christian 80% (overwhelmingly Roman
Catholic with very small groups of Jehovah's Witnesses and
Protestants), Muslim (about 800,000 to 1 million), Atheist
and Agnostic 20%.
Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the
central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia.
Government: Republic. Chief of state: President Giorgio
Napolitano (since May 15, 2006); head of government:
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (since Feb. 22, 2014).
Economy: Italy has a diversified industrial economy, which
is divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by
private companies, and a less-developed, highly subsidized,
agricultural south, where unemployment is higher. The Italian
economy is driven in large part by the manufacture of highquality consumer goods produced by small and mediumsized enterprises, many of them family-owned. Italy also has
a sizable underground economy, which by some estimates
accounts for as much as 17% of GDP. These activities are
most common within the agriculture, construction, and
service sectors. Italy is the third-largest economy in the eurozone, but its exceptionally high public debt and structural
impediments to growth have rendered it vulnerable to
scrutiny by financial markets. Public debt has increased
steadily since 2007, topping 133% of GDP in 2013, but
investor concerns about Italy and the broader euro-zone
crisis eased in 2013, bringing down Italy's borrowing costs
on sovereign government debt from euro-era records. The
government still faces pressure from investors and European
partners to sustain its efforts to address Italy's longstanding structural impediments to growth, such as labor
market inefficiencies and widespread tax evasion. In 2013,
economic growth and labor market conditions deteriorated,
with growth at 1.8% and unemployment rising to 12.4%,
with youth unemployment around 40%. Italy's GDP is now
8% below its 2007 pre-crisis level.
GDP per capita: $29,600 (2013 est.); inflation: 1.2%
(2013 est.); unemployment: 12.4% (2013 est.).
Currency: Euros (EUR): .7238 euros equal 1 U.S. dollar
(April 17, 2014).
Exports: $474 billion (2013 est.): engineering products,
textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles,
transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and
tobacco; minerals, nonferrous metals.
Imports: $435.8 billion (2013 est.): engineering products,
chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals
and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food,
beverages, and tobacco.
Major crops/agricultural products: Fruits, vegetables,
grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef,
dairy products, fish.
Agriculture: 2% of GDP and 3.9% of the labor force.
Internet: Code: .it; 25.662 million (2012) hosts and 29.235
million (2009) users.
Source: CIA World Factbook

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