Italians have always been big consumers of fish. This is also confirmed by world trade data compiled by Export Planning, which sees the Bel Paese among the world's top importers with a 3.8%, amounting to 3.7 billion euro out of a total of 100.1 billion in 2021.

Italian imports are mainly met by Spain (19.8%), Norway (12.5%, Sweden (9.6%), the Netherlands (9%) and Denmark (8.5%). Growth of 2.5% in value is expected in 2022, accelerating to an average of 7.7% in the three-year period 2023-2025. A market, therefore, that confirms itself to be of great interest to both Italian importers and packaging companies, as well as international players. And in Italy, too, new consumers are looking to fish as a healthy choice.

"In our industry, the health trend has had important effects,” says Angela Neglia, Callipo's Commercial Director. "Organic extra virgin oil based tuna and natural tuna, but with low salt and little oil content, are growing in particular. Therefore, our company is working on the introduction of some references that follow these trends in the near future. In addition, we expect a strong recovery in the Ho.Re.Ca. sector due to progressive relaxations in pandemic containment measures."

Tuna king of Italian seafood

According to recent Doxa research, Italy eats about 2.7 kg per capita of tuna per year. For 58% of respondents, tuna is a practical food, 47% like it because it has a pleasant taste , and 25% like it because it is a viable alternative to fresh fish. Accessibility (25%), reduced fat consumption (15%) and health reasons (10%) complete a picture that is also confirmed by Pierpaolo Drago, Sales Director, and Alessandro Drago, Communications and Marketing Manager, of Drago Conserve.

"Our company pays great attention to sustainability, with new products that meet health needs but retain traditional taste, for example, seawater tuna for food use, which is proving to be a popular product for summer, grilled mackerel, and tuna with vegetables or greens. Although we are a company with an artisan identity, we focus a lot on innovation."

TUTTOSEAFOOD is the sector dedicated to the seafood supply chain and takes advantage of a unique feature of TUTTOFOOD: combining an overview of agribusiness with vertical depth in the seafood sector, thanks to a high level of representativeness given by the synergistic presence of fresh, frozen and canned. So see you at fieramilano from May 8 to 11, 2023.