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A new report pub­lished by the Institute of Services for the Agricultural Food Market (Ismea) and Qualivita shows that the value of Italian extra vir­gin olive oils with geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tions has steadily increased over the past decade.

“The iden­tity of food is increas­ingly impor­tant for global and inter­con­nected con­sumers, who can count on a selec­tion of food from all over the world,” Raffaele Borriello, the gen­eral direc­tor of Ismea, said. ​“Geographical indi­ca­tions antic­i­pated the cur­rent per­cep­tions of qual­ity, which include trace­abil­ity, preser­va­tion of bio­di­ver­sity and pro­tec­tion of the land­scape.”

Across all applic­a­ble sec­tors – such as wine, cheese, meat and olive oil – Italian prod­ucts with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO or DOP) and Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI or IGP) sta­tus are worth €16.2 bil­lion ($17.5 bil­lion).

The mar­ket value of PDO and PGI extra vir­gin olive oils alone has steadily risen to €144 mil­lion ($155 mil­lion), a 21-per­cent increase com­pared with last year. Exports of PDO and PGI extra vir­gin olive oils have also risen, reach­ing €62 mil­lion ($67 mil­lion), an increase of 11 per­cent over the same period.

Tuscany and Puglia have been the dri­ving forces behind these ris­ing fig­ures, and are each respon­si­ble for about €25 mil­lion ($27 mil­lion) of PDO and PGI pro­duc­tion. Sicily, Liguria and Umbria also com­bine for a total of €24.1 mil­lion ($26 mil­lion) worth of PDO and PGI pro­duc­tion.

Along with the grow­ing value of olive oils with geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tions, the vol­umes have also increased, ris­ing by 22 per­cent.

“Italian PDO and PGI prod­ucts have a key role in tourism and the econ­omy of their ter­ri­to­ries,” Mauro Rosati, the gen­eral man­ager of Qualivita, said. ​“They are a bind­ing force in the ter­ri­to­r­ial expe­ri­ence capa­ble of involv­ing agri­cul­ture, crafts, hotels, qual­ity restau­rants and cul­tural and artis­tic her­itage.”

• Qualivita