The Ismea-Qualivita Report on PDO, PGI and TSG agri-food and wine productions outlines the performance of the Geographical Indications (GI) sector and provides an analysis of the so-called DOP economy. The latest survey, published at the end of 2025, captures the state of the GI sector in 2024, presenting the main production and economic indicators of the Italian Food, Wine and Spirits sectors.
With Professor Luca Mocarelli, Professor of Economic History at the University of Milano-Bicocca, we explore the impact that these productions have on market trends and evolution. The 2025 Ismea-Qualivita Report confirms the growing weight of PDO and PGI economies.
Can they be considered an alternative economic model to competition based solely on price and scale? What makes them more resilient?
Before addressing the many insights offered by the report, it is necessary to make a preliminary remark regarding the economic role of the sector.
The strong growth in the value of GI production between 2020 and 2024 — estimated by the report at around 25% — is actually more apparent than real, because the significant increase from €16.5 billion in 2020 to €20.7 billion in 2024 is largely due to the fact that food inflation during those years was approximately 20%. Therefore, rather than speaking of substantial growth, we should speak of a strong capacity to withstand particularly difficult years from both a political and market perspective.
It should also be emphasized that PDO and PGI products were fully involved in these dynamics, since the majority of marketed products — given their sales volumes — do not represent an alternative model to competition based on price and scale. Indeed, of the €20.7 billion in value of GI-labelled products, only 10% is not attributable to exports or large-scale retail distribution (GDO), which together account for €18.5 billion out of €20.7 billion.
When thinking about geographical indications, one immediately imagines high-quality products made in relatively limited quantities, such as Lardo di Colonnata or Pecorino di Fossa. In reality, however, the figures behind GI products are largely driven by just a few items. Suffice it to say that more than €5.5 billion out of the €20 billion total value of PDO and PGI products depend on only four products: Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma and Prosecco.
This leads to the paradox of certain PGI products, such as Aceto Balsamico di Modena, which function almost as “avatars”: they use the name of a product that is actually made in extremely limited quantities through a process lasting decades, in order to market hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of a product composed of varying proportions of wine vinegar (which is absolutely absent in traditional balsamic vinegar) and cooked grape must, often with the addition of additives such as thickeners and colorants, as well as raw materials sourced from all over the world.
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