Pecorino cheese is the star of Italian food exports. It’s a hard, salty cheese made of sheep’s milk, which saw a 23% growth in sales, 165 million euro over the same time period last year. Based on estimates by the farmers’ association, Coldiretti, around 400,000 tonnes of sheep’s milk is produced in Italy each year, while 67,000 tonnes of cheese made of sheep’s milk is produced per year. For Pecorino Romano DPO alone, production amounts to about 25,000 tonnes, of which 60% is exported.
The main market for Pecorino is the United States, the country where the major contribution comes from, which increased by 28% last year compared to 2014. But positive results were also achieved in Europe, for example, up 22% in the UK and 16% in France. Other export highlights were in Asia where the Japanese market increased by 9% in 2015. Notably, the record was set by China with an increase of 500% over the same time period, although volumes remained relatively small compared with other markets.
It is important to stress how Italian food exports have increased up 7% in 2015, reaching the record value of 36 billion euro. The result could have been even better if serious enforcement actions were taken against counterfeits. In the U.S., for example, more than 20.5 million kilograms of Pecorino Romano and similar varieties are produced, but they are not made from sheep’s milk. Despite being among the most targeted by counterfeiting, the cheese sector totaled 3.7 billion euro in exports in 2015, with an increase of 6% compared to the previous year.