Italy Beef

Italy Beef

Facts about beef in Italy

  • Although consumer budgets were similarly tight- Italian beef demand behaved slightly differently to Spanish. Total spending on beef fell three per cent in the first nine months of 2013- indicating lower demand- yet the average price of beef purchased increased.
  • Contrary to the American food system- meat- especially beef (and especially in Southern Italy) is a nice to have at the dinner table in Italy- as opposed to a given.
  • Italian beef consumption significantly declined in 2011- mainly due to the negative effects of the economic recession. Given the difficult economic climate- consumers are more price-conscious- and this is shifting their preferences towards cheaper fresh meat such as poultry and pork.
  • According to industry experts- MY 2012 domestic beef consumption is expected to stagnate at 1.42 MMT. The downward revision in the MY 2012 Italian beef consumption is due to the unexpectedly sluggish economic recovery
  • In 2013- beef and veal production in Italy was below 1 million tons for only the second time since 1975 − 2012 being the first. Total production fell by 13 per cent to 855-000 tons- with slaughtering down by a similar amount at 3.1 million head.