Gorgonzola may certainly be flying high on the international markets. However, it is also having to deal with more obstacles and difficulties in the American and Canadian markets, especially after Ceta, as Fabio Leonardi, Ceo of Igor – one of Italy’s top players in the production of Gorgonzola – explains. As for exports, Europe has given us incredible results. It’s a positive sign that brings great enthusiasm. Being able to grow, with such large quantities, in a mature market, means that the product is appreciated. There’s also excellent performance in Eastern Europe. In general, all non-EU markets are doing quite well except North America, where competition from Italian sounding local producers is quite strong. In Canada, in 2016, the problems linked to the Ceta agreement contributed to a -25% in Gorgonzola exports, a figure that is all the more worrying if compared to the +25% of 2015 (on 2014). And then there is also the Canadian boycott, with which the government allocated additional quotas to the six main established Canadian importers. The problem – continues Leonardi – is the Canadian producers Arla, Saputo, and especially the giant Agropur cooperative. They aim to snap up any additional licenses resulting from the Ceta agreement in order to control and restrict the entry of the highly-demanded PDO Italian products.
