Italian makers of Parmesan cheese, olive oil and different delicacies are racing to ship their wares to the US earlier than president-elect Donald Trump could make good on his menace to impose new tariffs on imports.
The US imported €4.4bn price of Italian meals, wine and spirits in 2023, however producers in Italy concern American urge for food for his or her merchandise can be curbed by the value hikes that might seemingly observe any new levies.
“All people is speeding, placing as a lot meals of their warehouses as they’ll earlier than [Trump] will get in,” mentioned Michele Buccelletti, whose household enterprise produces olive oil and wine in Tuscany and Umbria.
Nevertheless, such efforts are constrained by a scarcity of cargo area within the run-up to Christmas. “Proper now, it’s not possible to discover a 20-foot or 40-foot refrigerated container,” Buccelletti mentioned.
Buccelletti mentioned he often sends 20,000-30,000 litres of additional virgin olive oil to the US two or 3 times a 12 months. However since Trump’s victory, his US importer has been urgent him to extend shipments shortly, and he now goals to have 50,000 litres en route this month.
Filippo Marchi, basic supervisor of Granarolo — a Bologna-based dairy, mentioned the corporate is scrambling to dispatch extra Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano cheese to its personal US subsidiary.
Nevertheless, Marchi expressed concern that manufacturing “bottlenecks” — by way of lengthy maturation time for the cheeses — and scarce delivery capability posed critical constraints. “It isn’t attainable to provide rather a lot in a brief interval,” he mentioned.
“Till December, it’s fairly troublesome to search out additional cargo area,” Marchi mentioned. “Everyone seems to be making an attempt to do the identical factor.”
Granarolo is seeking to safe further warehouse area to carry the additional inventory by late February, when it expects tariffs may very well be imposed. But Marchi nonetheless hopes Trump might rethink his tariff plan, particularly on meals.
“You must take into consideration the provision of merchandise on grocery store cabinets,” he mentioned.
Luigi Pio Scordamaglia, director of worldwide affairs at Coldiretti — Italy’s influential farming affiliation, mentioned some stockpiling might have begun even earlier than Trump’s win, as producers had been hedging for this end result.
Italy’s meals and wine exports to the US had been 19.5 per cent increased within the first half of 2024 than over the identical interval final 12 months. In whole, Italian agrifood exports to the US — Rome’s most necessary market outdoors Europe — are forecast to achieve €7.8bn for the 12 months.
Although Scordamaglia mentioned new tariffs are anticipated to dampen future progress, he expects the market to stay strong given “robust demand for Italian meals within the US”.
Some Italians hope Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — who has cast a strong friendship with Elon Musk, Trump’s highly effective backer and nominee to go a deregulation division — could possibly safe beneficial therapy for Italy.
International minister Antonio Tajani mentioned this month that Trump had proven a “particular regard for Italy, completely different from different international locations” in his first time period, which may assist protect the nation from the tariff blow.
Nevertheless, Meloni admitted this week that “we’re all fearful about tariffs — this can be a reality”. She mentioned that her authorities would interact in talks with the Trump administration whereas additionally looking for to spice up Europe’s competitiveness.
Throughout his first time period, Trump levied 25 per cent import duties on numerous European items, together with French wines and Italian cheese, as punishment for European subsidies to aerospace large Airbus.
Although Italian wines had been spared from direct tariffs, Albiera Antinori, president of winemaker Marchesi Antinori, mentioned wineries suffered anyway as US wine merchants hiked costs throughout. “It broken the entire sector,” she mentioned. “It unsettles the buyer and it unsettles the provision chain.”
Not all Italian winemakers had been speeding to front-load exports, she mentioned, given massive volumes of crimson wine already within the US. “Each goes to be their very own shares and their very own availability of wine,” Antinori mentioned.
Francesco Mutti, chief government of Mutti — the most important Italian tomato products maker within the US market, additionally warned that front-loading exports might be dangerous, given the price of capital and further storage, which can not repay if Trump’s tariff menace doesn’t materialise — or if charges find yourself decrease than predicted.
Massimiliano Giansanti, president of Confagricoltura — which represents Italy’s largest agribusinesses, mentioned any export surge would seemingly be adopted by a slowdown. Many producers additionally concern that if the costs of genuine Italian merchandise rise, some American shoppers will change to cheaper home substitutes.
“The massive danger of duties is that pretend merchandise restart available on the market: Italian-sounding, not Italian, he mentioned. “Some American shoppers are going to decide on the merchandise that price much less.”
