On the occasion of the Italian Republic Day, the excellence of Italian PDO cheeses will be presented at the Italian Embassy in Washington. Tonight, Afidop – the Association of Italian PDO cheeses – together with the Protection Consortia of Asiago PDO, Fontina PDO (pictured), Gorgonzola PDO, Grana Padano PDO, Pecorino Romano PDO, Pecorino Toscano PDO, and Piave PDO will host a special celebratory evening.
More than 900 guests will be in attendance, including U.S. dignitaries, representatives of the Italian and Italian-American communities, the international diplomatic community in Washington, and Italian entrepreneurs. The event will promote the 2023 Ryder Cup, which will be held in Rome, and the Italian capital’s bid for Expo 2030.
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“This is an unmissable opportunity,” says the President of Afidop Antonio Auricchio, “to strengthen the promotion of our dairy excellence to a high-profile audience in the United States, where Italy holds the world record for cheese exports. With 55.9 million exports in the first two months of 2023, it is a strategic market for us, which also recorded an exploit for Italian PDO cheeses with a +24% increase in sales value compared to the same period in 2022.”
Italian cheese exports to the USA are worth 418 million euros, of which almost 84 percent are PDO cheeses. The latter is a constantly growing market, whose exports to the United States have grown by +22.5 percent in volume and +81 percent in value over the last decade. That is to say, from 193.2 million euros in 2012 to 349.9 million euros in 2022.
