(Finance) – Central hubs in the trade of fresh and very fresh products, with an important role in the valorisation of local and seasonal productions, in the traceability of the supply chain and in health and hygiene safety, wholesale markets are evolving towards a multifunctional hub model capable of offering a variety of services in addition to the traditional function of commercial intermediation, logistics and goods storage. According to thesurvey “Wholesale Markets in the Agri-Food Supply Chain” conducted by ISMEA at the Italmercati reference network, partners of the initiative, 137 structures operate in Italy (six times higher than that of Spain and France) through which approximately 50% of the overall fruit and vegetable supply, 33% of the fish supply and 10% of the meat pass through, shares which , with the exception of fruit and vegetables, are significantly lower than those of similar situations in other EU countries.
The Italian wholesale market system – as emerges from the Report presented today at the CNEL – it is a very composite and fragmented reality, where the greater density of structures compared to the European partners corresponds to a smaller turnover, but with a potentially crucial role in promoting a rebalancing in the distribution of value along the agri-food supply chain.
“In a difficult situation for businesses, with repercussions above all on the stability of incomes, crushed by high production costs, – commented the general director of ISMEA Maria Chiara Zaganelli – wholesale markets can take on an important stimulating role to encourage a virtuous process, aimed at a more equitable distribution of value along the supply chain and less penalizing agricultural businesses, the structurally weakest link. On this front, our investigation has highlighted the critical factors that do not allow us to guarantee the direct presence of farmers in wholesale markets. With respect to this need, the markets could provide support and facilitation services to small producers, even with a different programming of opening hours, an aspect also reported by other operators”.
The ISMEA study on the Italmercati network, made up of a network of 22 structures, distributed in 14 Italian regions, quantifies a turnover of 115 million euros, a value that reaches the remarkable figure of 11 billion if we also consider the activities of the 4,000 economic entities operating in the markets, including distributors, farms, bars, restaurants, facility providers and ancillary services, with the daily involvement of 26 thousand employees.
As can be seen from the investigation, a strategic asset of the Italmercati member structures it is their location in relation to logistics hubs: all operate in the immediate vicinity of a motorway junction, over half near an airport, 50% near a railway freight yard, almost a fifth near a commercial port. A favorable position also with respect to marketed production, with many structures operating within agri-food districts or production areas of recognized quality (Dop-Igp brand), demonstrating the close link with companies in the primary sector.
The origin of the product that passes through these commercial hubs is predominantly national, with a significant share of local production, i.e. coming from a maximum distance of 100 km, with the exception of meat, which is mostly made up of imported products. In more detail, local goods account for over half of horticultural products, a third of horticultural and fish products, and a fifth of fruit. These realities, alongside the activities strictly connected to the core business, also contribute to renewable energy production, with 60% of the structures having invested in this sector with the installation of systems partly financed by the PNRR. The forecast is to reach, by 2026, a share of self-produced energy equal to almost half of the requirement. Sustainability is further strengthened by the shared commitment to fighting waste, through the recovery of unsold products, donations to charitable organizations and direct sales to citizens
Between market customers, the largest share is represented by retailers from the traditional circuit (37%), followed by retailers from modern distribution (18%) and local markets (17%). Also significant is the participation of national (11%) and foreign (7%) intermediaries and exporters and operators of the Horeca channel (6%), in particular restaurateurs, the latter growing together with those of modern distribution.
“The fragmentation of the wholesale market sector in Italy has led many of these structures to lose relevance and strategic importance for the country and has caused us to lose the overall vision of the sector. The Italmercati network was born precisely from the felt need to remedy to this fragmentation, to create a system and work in synergy with the same characteristics and future vision – declares the president of Italmercati Fabio Massimo Pallottini –. For the development of the sector, it is essential that political actions invest in the country’s strategic wholesale markets: our proposal seeks to identify a number – perhaps reduced – of strategic markets that guarantee a more effective and efficient system, without neglecting the main requirements underlying these structures: guaranteeing traceability and food safety services to consumers”.
The future development of the markets, in fact, it must be accompanied by a process of aggregation of existing entities into modern, larger and more efficient structures, with clear positive effects, such as an increase in the efficiency of the logistics chain and a lower dispersion of investments, as also indicated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and forest sovereignty. Furthermore, in a context in which the tools of the current CAP are no longer sufficient to ensure adequate support for farmers, the balancing role of Wholesale Markets within the agri-food chain becomes crucial to make it more efficient, fairer and less penalizing for farmers. agricultural producers.
From these premises – explains ISMEA – the proposal illustrated during the day by Pallottini, already ready to be implemented and shared with the institutions and in particular with MASAF: create a network with which to share sector policies at both a regional and national level that can access financing lines that guarantee their evolution, both structures themselves and those who work within them; strengthen the role of markets as operators in the supply chain, increasing involvement and integration in the large-scale retail trade system and their collaboration with producer organisations; open a working table on logistics; strengthen the suffering fishing sector since, unlike other European countries, the link between wholesale markets and the world of fishing in Italy is inefficient.