Apr. 13 – “Seeing today Parma Ham in the menus of the best restaurants of Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, Moscow, London, Paris and New York gives us the knowledge that we built something really important and we must continue to take on new challenges,” comments Paolo Tanara, president of the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma. Tanara is pleased and excited: the good news comes once again from the international front, where Parma ham “is reaching excellent achievements, the result of a growth project that involves the entire industry.” The numbers speak for themselves. International markets absorbed over 2,600,000 hams for an increase compared to 2013 of 88,000 units (+ 3.5%), for an estimated turnover of €250 million. “Over the past decade, we have been able to improve ourselves, and our exports have grown by nearly 1 million pieces. The share of the total annual production has increased from 18% to 30%,” continues the president. “Strategically, teamwork is our competitive advantage. The task of the Consortium has always been to assist the member companies in their internationalization process with the goal of affirming Parma Ham as a leading brand of delicatessen in the world.” Exports mainly grew to non-European markets, led by the excellent result of the US that imported 565,000 hams, for a growth of 12.5%. Of particular note is also Japan that reached 105,000 hams (+ 3%) and Australia with 87,000 hams (+ 8%). “The vast geographical extent of our exports – continues Tanara – allowed us to differentiate risks and at the same time grasp many opportunities, thus compensating for the difficulties encountered in some countries with positive performances on other markets. The US is by far our biggest market, always followed by Germany, France and Britain. Australia continues to grow and we’re getting very promising signals coming from China, not because of the volumes exported, but rather for the favorable evolution of a market that is actually becoming more receptive and open to our product.”
