Penalized the whole agribusiness because of Easter holidays blinded for the umpteenth containment measures.
Lost revenues for businesses already marked by a terrible year. There will be no lunches out for a loss of 400 million euros for the restaurant industry. 7 million Italians chose to go out to lunch for Easter. Skip, therefore, even the gains expected from 24 thousand agritourisms in Italy, established destination of the Easter holidays. Entire sectors of agribusiness are collapsing, a situation to which at the moment there is no remedy, it seems. It is estimated a loss since the beginning of the pandemic of 11.5 billion for food and wine Made in Italy. Coldiretti calculates that 300 million kilos of beef, 250 million kilos of fish and seafood and about 200 million bottles of wine, have never arrived in the last year on the tables of the locals.
The “Supports” decree is awaited, in the hope of a true Easter resurrection, for an entire sector that only claims to be able to work and reopen its shutters. Interventions, it is known, will not be based on Ateco codes to support all activities affected by restrictions and closures. The national food system is worth 538 billion for a total of 3.6 million jobs in about 360 thousand between bars, canteens, restaurants and farmhouses in the Peninsula, 70 thousand food industries and 740 thousand farms.
An even more complex situation, if we consider that, even in the “yellow areas”, lunches served at the table are worth 80% of the turnover, but it has already collapsed due to the continuation of smart working and the absence of tourists.
A bleak picture if we consider the data of a recent research of the Cgia (Italian General Confederation of Artisans), according to which, although Italy has been the nation that in Europe has recorded the highest number of victims because of the Covid and, at the same time, they have undergone the collapse of the GDP among the most dramatic of all the EU, in comparison with the main EU countries we are, together with Spain, those who have supported their citizens-entrepreneurs in a less convinced measure. Each Italian citizen has, in fact, received 1,979 euros from the State to cope with the negative effects caused by the pandemic, compared with an average of the Eurozone countries estimated at 2,518 euros per capita, +539 euros compared with the Italian average.
Meanwhile, about 48,000 entrepreneurs in the sector who have applied for access to the “Catering Fund”, provided for by the “August Decree”, are waiting for a reply. There are numerous reports indicating that the chain of payments is completely blocked and that, instead, it should have been in place by the end of January. An initiative, we would like to remind you, that foresaw an allocation of six hundred million euros dedicated to restaurateurs who would have used exclusively Italian food products.
May it truly be an Easter of resurrection for everyone, but above all an auspice of rebirth for the many spokesmen of Made in Italy who, through the table, profess their act of love for the kitchen and for the healthiest supply chain and bearer of genuine values in the world.
ITA0039 supports real Made in Italy restaurateurs around the world!
