Given a domestic production of 4 million tons of flour and 3.8 million tons of semolina, according to Italmopa (the Italian Industrial Millers’ Association) in 2019 exports reached 192 thousand tons for soft wheat flour and 103 thousand tons for durum wheat semolina. According to the figures of the last period provided by Italmopa on the basis of the most recent Istat data, exports of soft wheat flour in the two-month period January/February 2020 reached 29,034 tons, growing by +5.2% compared to the same period of 2019. The most important countries for Italian flour exports are the USA, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain.
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PRODUCTION IS EXPECTED TO FALL IN 2020
In 2019 the Italian milling industry recorded a positive trend, mainly thanks to healthy products, i.e. based on organic or wholemeal flour/seeds, ready-to-use products with a high service content and products obtained with national, regional or local wheat. In the first half of 2020 there was a 15% fall in demand for common wheat flour due to the collapse in demand from the Horeca and pastry channels and, to a lesser extent, from the bakery channel and exports. These reductions were only partially offset by the three-figure increase in large-scale distribution sales, which account for about 5% of the volumes of common wheat flour produced by the Italian milling industry.
EXPORT TRENDS OF ITALIAN FLOUR
| Country | Volume (tons) | 2019/2018 yoy % variation |
| USA | 4,083 | -10.9% |
| Germany | 3,337 | +18% |
| France | 3,151 | +16.4% |
| UK | 2,644 | -6.4% |
| Spain | 2,394 | +20% |
Domestic production of common wheat in 2020 could be more than 5% lower than 2019 production volumes and thus less than 2.80 million tons.
According to Italmopa, the Italian soft and durum wheat milling industry is the leader in the EU with over 11 million tons of wheat annually processed for the production of flour and semolina destined for products that are symbols of “Made in Italy” food products such as bread, pizza, confectionery, and pasta.
THE GOALS OF ITALIAN FLOUR PRODUCTION
“The fall in national production – said Giorgio Agugiaro, Chairman of the Italmopa soft wheat mills section – is due both to a reduction in areas of cultivation of soft wheat and to a lower yield per hectare. In this regard, it should be noted, once again, that the national production of common wheat is structurally and largely insufficient, to the extent of about 65%, compared to the demand of the Italian milling industry.”