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“India is a good market in confectionery and pasta”
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Saturday, 16 June, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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fiogf49gjkf0d Italy is known for its bakery, chocolate, confectionery, ice cream, and cereals offerings, as much as it is famous for its varieties of pastas. Having a strong market presence both domestically and internationally, all these sub-segments have come together under Associazione delle Industrie del Dolce e della Pasta Italiane (AIDEPI), a plaform for addressing issues and sharing concerns.
Monica Mastofrancesco, statistics & export promotion manager, spoke to Manjushree Naik at the recent Cibus trade fair in Parma, Italy, and threw more light. Excerpts:
What are the broad outlines of the association’s mission?
The mission of the association is essentially conveyed through; It seeks to promote the continuous development of a quality-based culture of entrepreneurial skill, directed towards consumers and also on a perspective of social responsibility and sustainable development, throughout the direct involvement of associates in workshops, seminars, training days, guidelines for the enforcement of regulations and any other instrument that can provide support for the associated enterprises; It pursues to represent and promote the embodied value of associated enterprises: quality and food safety of the industrial products, protection and valorisation of the national tradition and information transparency to consumers; It seeks to support the competitiveness of the enterprises through the promotion of a legal-regulatory framework, enabling Italian industries to operate – on production and commercial level – on equal terms with foreign competitors, thus facing with foreign markets without any drawback; and It spreads out the knowledge and experience of the products worldwide represented.
In order to accomplish these aims, AIDEPI carries out a thoroughly exhaustive representation activity towards local administration and institutions. Furthermore, it adheres to several reference associations, such as (national level) Confindustria
Confederation of Italian Industries; Federalimentare - Federation of Italian Food Industry (international level) Caobisco - The Association of the Chocolate, Biscuit & Confectionery Industries of EU; Euroglaces - European Ice-cream Association, UNAFPA - Union des Associations de Fabricants de Pates Alimentaires de l’UE;
Ceereal - European Breakfast Cereal Association; IPO - International Pasta Organisation; ICA - International Confectionery Organisation; ECFF - European Chilled Food Federation.
Give us details on the sub-segments such as pasta, bakery, confectionery, and chocolate that you represent.
In particular, AIDEPI protects the national manufacturers of pasta, breakfast cereal, chocolate and cocoa-based products, ice-creams, sugar confectionery, biscuits and other fine bakery products.
Give us details on your association.
We comprise 130 associated companies, 80% of the confectionery and pasta market, represent 16 billion euros turnover, 13.5% of the Italian food turnover, 4 billion euros export, and 25% of the national food export.
AIDEPI represents an industrial history to be handed down and represent in exports to all over the world. In defence of our tradition, AIDEPI safeguards its associates’ interests on national and international levels, talking with institutions and administrations, either about the sector’s regulations’ development, or as a propeller of activities aimed to the protection and represented products promotion.
Does coming together as an association affect quality, pricing etc.?
The association is structured in several units, providing its members with different specific services. Every unit releases periodical informative reports, summarising developments of the most relevant dossiers. Labour Area: It stipulates and interprets the national collective contract of the food sector. Moreover, it carries out a consulting activity and assists the associates on national and community labour law, in reference to specific regulations, as follows: contracts; social security; training; work safety; sales representatives; and legal area.
It is responsible for monitoring in-depth analysis and advisory activities related to horizontal legislation, which regulates different products within the food sector, with particular regards to the topics of greater interest for the associated enterprises – competitiveness; corporate; administrative responsibility of legal entity; privacy policies; and loyalty programme.
Environment and Raw Materials Area: Besides the monitoring and informative activity concerning environmental law and its enforcement, the area carries out periodical researches on packaging as well as advisory and guidance activity in several fields, including: food contact materials: packaging; waste; sustainable development; common agricultural policy; corporate social responsibility; and supply chain.
Furthermore, the area is in charge for the analysis of national and international markets of the main agricultural commodities and packaging issues, providing useful information on the availability of agricultural raw materials and, more specifically, on supply balances, on an international scale.
Food Regulations Area: It conducts monitoring activities, in-depth analysis and informative activities on national, EU community and international legislation, regarding the technical regulation of the sector, and it also offers advisory and assistance services on food regulations, with particular reference to the following topics: production; labelling and advertising; marketing; food safety and HACCP; nutrition and health; and Codex Alimentarius. Foreign Trade, Revenue and Logistic Area: It provides advisory, consulting, monitoring and timely informative activities on the following subjects: trade law (goods classification, customs import/export procedures, tariff/non-tariff trade barriers, export subsidies); bilateral and multilateral marketing agreements; internationalization; relationship with the large-scale retailing system; transport and logistic; and taxation.
Statistics and Export Promotion Office: It carries out periodical monitoring activities of the main macroeconomic indicators (production, consumption, foreign trade) and other elements and data of interest for the business management of the associated enterprises.
It cooperates with national (ISTAT, ISMEA etc.) and international bodies in marketing analysis – in Italy as well as on a global perspective.
How has the economic recession affected all of these trades?
We are going through a difficult economic period. Though we find this (period), in general, very well for confectionery and pasta, all the sub-segments have been experiencing around 10 per cent growth in 2011 and the first three months of 2012 have shown good results.
Pasta, in fact, because of good value even in export, has proved oxygen for us. Russia, South Africa, Brazil, and China have great opportunities compared to other European countries.
Do you have any plans for the Indian market?
India is a really important market for our association. We have got two trade events Dolce Italia and Pasta Italia and we are likely to take the promotion of these to India next year.
Also India is clearly a strong economy and the Indian economy is changing. The profile of Indian consumer is interesting. The Indian population has more money to spend. It’s a good market in confectionery and pasta. Surely we can do better in India and gain more Indian consume
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