Many hope the Americans will reconsider recent import duties, however most believe it all depends on the negotiations with the EU to find a solution to the Boeing/Airbus dispute. In the meantime, since last October 18 Italian cold cuts ended up in the US administration black list. The result is an additional import duty of +25% on the products value – a major burden that will most likely hurt Italian businesses.
The ax fell on salami and mortadella, while speck (South-Tyrolese ham) and both cured and cooked ham are safe. According to estimates by Italy’s cured meats industry association Assica, the losses could amount to a total of about 7.8 million euro, as these products, until a couple of weeks ago, enjoyed fairly low US import taxation: 0.8 cents per Kg. Unfortunately, due to latest measures each shipment will be burdened by additional costs of 25% on the total price of the exported products. A considerable increase that will inevitably have a heavy impact on the turnover of Italian companies.
THE ITALIAN COLD CUTS TRENDS OF THE FIRST HALF OF 2019
The increase in duties comes at a very promising and successful moment for products such as salami and mortadella, which, in 2018, accounted for 8.4% of the total export value of Italian cold cuts to the USA. Even in the first half of 2019, the export figures to the country looked excellent, as salami hit a staggering +106% increase in turnover (4.4 million euro) as mortadella grew by +34.1% (2.3 million euro).
ASSICA’S COMMENTS
As Davide Calderone (Director of Assica) explains, “We achieved so much in the last years. In particular, the opening of this market to the import of products with short curing periods. A lot of hard work, possibly for nothing. This comes at a time when our exports to the EU are slow, and the best performing markets are precisely non-EU countries”.
THE CHANCES OF A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION
Coldiretti estimated that the sales of Italian food products – hence of cold cuts too – affected by the newly-introduced American import duties will drop by 20%. “The EU,” adds Calderone, “must not take countermeasures, especially now that the Americans have formally declared their willingness to review the measures in the light of future negotiations with the EU about the Boeing/Airbus situation”.