Italian pasta reaches more than 200 markets as food exports top €72 billion
Italy’s agri-food exports exceeded €72 billion in 2025, rising 5.6%, while pasta reached more than 200 markets. Product performance diverged sharply as US tariffs, falling olive oil prices and higher imported input costs reshaped the export mix.
Pasta anchors a record export year
Italian pasta is now sold in more than 200 markets, with Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States among its strongest destinations. Its reach reflects the broader expansion of Italy’s food industry, which completed a record export year in 2025 despite geopolitical tensions, new trade barriers and volatile raw-material prices.
According to the foreign trade report on agri-food products prepared by CREA’s Research Centre for Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy, Italian agri-food exports exceeded €72 billion in 2025. That was 5.6% more than in the previous year. Buonissimo reported that exports remained resilient during the first five months of 2026, while imports slowed.
Products identified abroad as characteristically Italian generated €52.2 billion, almost three quarters of total agri-food exports. This segment grew by 3.7%. The balance consisted of raw materials and goods shipped from Italy but not closely associated with the country’s traditional food identity.
US tariffs divide product categories
Europe remained the main destination for Italian food, but the United States delivered a weaker result. Italian agri-food exports to the US fell by 4.2% in 2025 to €7.55 billion. The CREA report linked part of the decline to Washington’s changing trade policy and higher tariffs during the second half of the year.
Extra virgin olive oil, DOP wines, spirits, sauces and condiments were among the categories most affected. Pasta moved in the opposite direction, alongside mineral water, roasted coffee and bakery products. Their continued growth under tariff pressure suggests that demand was less sensitive to higher landed prices than in other Italian food and beverage categories.
Buonissimo described pasta as an everyday food for US consumers rather than an occasional discretionary purchase. That position matters for manufacturers and distributors: a product embedded in regular household consumption can retain volumes more effectively when tariffs or currency movements raise retail prices.
Values and volumes tell different stories
The strongest nominal gains did not always represent higher physical shipments. The report noted that much of the increase in chocolate and coffee exports resulted from higher prices for imported cocoa and green coffee. Those costs flowed into export prices, meaning sales value rose without necessarily indicating equivalent volume growth.
Extra virgin olive oil showed the reverse pattern. Its export value declined by 17.2% in 2025 even as volumes increased by 18.2%. International prices fell after the increases of previous years, allowing Italy to ship substantially more oil while collecting less revenue. Tomato preserves and some wine categories also declined.
Cocoa-based confectionery, roasted coffee, fresh fruit, cheese and bakery products recorded notable increases, according to Buonissimo. For processors and investors, the composition of growth is therefore as important as the headline record: some categories expanded through demand, while others were lifted mainly by raw-material inflation.
Import dependence keeps trade near balance
Italy’s agri-food imports reached €72.45 billion in 2025, increasing by 10.1%. With imports close to the value of exports, the sector’s trade balance was essentially even. Higher prices for coffee and cocoa contributed to the import increase, but the figures also expose the industry’s reliance on foreign agricultural inputs.
Italian processors depend on supplies including Spanish olive oil, durum wheat, green coffee and cocoa to make products marketed globally under Italian brands. The export record therefore rests not only on domestic agriculture, but also on the industry’s ability to source, process and add value to imported commodities.
For producers and traders, the key distinction is between export growth generated by stronger volumes and growth created by cost inflation. Pasta’s expansion across more than 200 markets offers broad geographic demand, while the US decline and the olive oil price reversal show how tariffs and commodity cycles can quickly alter revenue even when consumer demand or shipment volumes remain firm.
