For the consumers in the United Kingdom, the Italian salami, ham and cold cuts have a higher quality than Spanish and German ones, so that one out of two consumers bought them last year.
Today the Italian meat industry is increasingly present on the international markets: in 2016 for every 100 Euros of sales realised by meat industry, 12 came from foreign Countries, for a total export value of 2.8 billion Euros (9% of total value concerning food). Foreign sales recorded + 75% over the past 10 years. The most dynamic component of meat exports is the one concerning salami and cold cuts and their derivatives; with 1.6 billion Euros by value in 2016 (56% of total concerning meat), this sector has nearly doubled its value compared to 2006 (+ 91%) and shows positive growth signals during the last year (+ 4.5%), too.
The strength of the Italian products is their quality, as evidenced by the strong price differential compared to other global competitors: with € 8.1 / kg, Italy significantly surpasses the big Spanish (5.70 € / kg), German (4.2 € / kg), US (3.5 € / kg), and Polish (3.0 € / kg) exporters.
In the world market, our Country has a share of 7.7%, out of a total value of 21 billion Euros in 2016. 3.4 billion Euros (16% of total value) are concentrated in the United Kingdom, the first import market as for salami and cold cuts, with positive growth trend over the last 10 years (+ 33%). English consumers are also among the main recipients of Italian products (11% of export by value), but are preceded by German (21%) and French (17%) ones. So, given the importance of the overseas market and its positive trend, there are many opportunities that can still be taken by Italian companies.
![salumiamotv[1]](http://www.italianfoodexcellence.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2015/07/salumiamotv1.jpg)
A survey carried out by Agrifood Monitor on a sample of 800 people in charge of purchases in the United Kingdom made it possible to highlight their behaviour, to focus on the level of knowledge, reputation, and perception of Italian products, and therefore identify the main purchase drivers.
The interest expressed by English consumers for salami and cold cuts is high, as evidenced by the fact that about 87% of them purchased them at least in one occasion in the last 12 months, and in particular 57% of them bought them several times during a week. These purchases are made mainly in the big retail stores, but also in discount and convenience stores. About 61% use the served counter / purchase by the slice, while there is a hard core of consumers who put in their shopping cart pre-packaged self-service products only.
The interest in the imported products is high: among people in charge of purchases, 73% take into account foreign products, too, and nearly half (47%) buy them at least once a month or more. Italy is recognized as the best quality producer as for salami and cold cuts, followed closely by Germany and Spain.
At the first place of the ranking of the reputation concerning Italian salami and cold cuts there is cooked ham, followed by Parma ham, Milano salami, Bologna, all with awareness percentages higher than 50%.
