Italy’s small food-makers: Export or die IT TAKES two days to make panettone, the fluffy, dome-shaped cake speckled with candied fruit that Italians devour at this time of year, explains Gianluca Corsini, the quality manager at Corsini Biscotti. Founded in 1921 in the Tuscan village of Castel del Piano, the family baking business has annual revenues of €14m ($ 17m), no debt and is growing.That is despite Italy’s prolonged downturn, in which the domestic market has shrivelled as unemployment has reached record highs. The average family’s monthly shopping bill fell by €129 to €2,359 between 2011 and 2013. The smaller, often family-owned manufacturers that are the backbone of the Italian economy have been hit especially hard: between 2008 and the first half of 2014, a fifth of them went bankrupt or into administration, or were voluntarily wound up.One of the main reasons so many have gone to the wall is that they are too focused on the home market. Italian businesses of all sizes are much less likely to have export customers than German or Spanish ones, according to a recent study by SACE, Italy’s official export-credit agency (see chart). Italian cuisine is popular all over the world, but Italy’s countless... The Economist: Business economist/news/business/21637397-businesses-are-looking-abroad-customers-and-saviours-export-or-die?fsrc=rss%7Cbus International Business News - Your source for up to date Global business! #internationalbusiness #business #investment #news
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:30:32 +0000
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