CONSUMPTION: AGRI-FOOD, “SMALL RECOVERY ON THE HORIZON WITH FALLING INFLATION”

Source: press office Confindustria Veneto Est

(Padua-Treviso-Venice-Rovigo – 19.07.2023) – Price dynamics, shrinking consumption, on-shelf references and relaunch strategies in trade policies. And the pandemic as a watershed. Many were the topics of the meeting at Giacomelli Palace in Treviso promoted by the Milling Zootechnic Agro-fish Group of Confindustria Veneto Est, chaired by Carlo Scabin, with Coop Italia, represented by Massimiliano Lazzari, Food Commercial Management and Head of the Cold-cuts and delicatessen department, and Francesco Scarcelli, Head of Category Purchaising – Beverages.
Also participating were companies from the Groups of Food, with President Stefano Pavan and Vice-President Paola Goppion, Organised Distribution, with Vice-President Silvano Canella, and Wine Distillates and Spirits with President Stefano Bottega and Vice-President Settimo Pizzolato.

The representatives of Coop Italia, Italy’s second largest organised distribution group with 1,400 sales outlets and 100 hypermarkets, outlined the situation to the many entrepreneurs present. Among the topics, of course, is the impact of inflation, which is causing margins to shrink (“on purchase we are paying 16% more, while on sale the increases are 9%”) and the drop in volumes, already since the beginning of the year, with consumers also paying attention to reducing waste. Supermarkets are recovering while, surprisingly, discounters are declining, and for all the objective is to maintain market share. Looking ahead, the peak should have been reached and for the coming months inflation is expected to fall and a small recovery in sales volumes.

Changes in consumption habits – noted Coop Italia representatives – started even before the inflation flare-up, with the watershed represented by the effects of the pandemic. Lifestyles and therefore purchases have changed: wine is linked to conviviality (more sparkling and less still wines), distillates to mixology, less red meat more vegetables, but also confirmation of fast food that advantageously combines speed and economy.

For retail chains, variety on the shelf must contemplate this plurality of choices and at the same time anticipate and promote new consumption habits, for example in favouring local products and those with high sustainability values. An in-depth focus was devoted to private label, with which Coop Italia already covers 30% of the products on the shelf, with the aim of reaching 50% with 5,000 references. A product range that has a constant positioning and is less affected by price fluctuations than branded products.

This is a European trend, which also allows the consumer to be oriented towards certain types and which does not necessarily involve large volumes but can also focus on market niches, territorial products and with the possibility of developing co-branding lines. And new changes are heralded by the emergence of online sales also for food and FMCG products.

As companies in the entire agro-food and distribution chain, we represent 335 companies in Confindustria Veneto Est for over 22 thousand direct employees in the four provinces, –  underlined Carlo Scabin, President of the Milling Zootechnic Agro-fish Group. We strongly believe in cooperation among ourselves, in the territory, and in establishing concrete and pragmatic relationships in the purchasing and supply chains, offering all companies the possibility of accessing up-to-date information. We are considered an ‘anti-cyclical’ sector, which is therefore less affected by economic fluctuations, but first the pandemic and now inflation require us to be flexible and able to grasp the changes in consumption, lifestyles, and communication, in the face of market scenarios that will be increasingly characterised by discontinuity and new proposals to which we will know how to respond.

I would like to thank Carlo Scabin for promoting this supply chain appointment between different product representations of our member companies – said Giovanni Taliana, CVE’s Delegate for the Coordination of Product Groups and Supply Chains. – The association is the ideal context for structuring these collaborations that see us united, beyond production specificities, on common areas of interest. The topic of trade policies and relations with large-scale organised distribution is more topical than ever in these months of high inflation, which simultaneously causes a reduction in sales volumes, altered prices, and falling margins in both industry and distribution.

Translated by Cecilia Flaccavento

Intern at the Chamber of Commerce of Treviso – Belluno