In the past days, the Ministry of agriculture, food and forestry policies (MIPAAF) made official another extraordinary measure to deal with the current crisis of the production chain of PDO hams.  This measure refers to the so-called “private storage” and, based on the provisions of the Italian DL Rilancio (the legislative decree to relaunch the Italian economy), approves an appropriation of 10 million Euro to fund some interventions in favour of PDO hams. Yesterday, Agea issued the operating instructions regarding the applications in favour of the companies who are interested in joining this initiative.

The measure adopted by the Government – which we thank for the attention shown and closeness to our industry – is part of a wider package of actions which are the result of the continuous and persistent work, also at the political level, of our Consortium to support the companies hit by the drop of sales and to relaunch the entire production chain.  We have strongly encouraged private storage because it will lead to two important results: it will take a significant share of the matured products out of the PDO circuit thus relieving the pressure of the product supply on the market, and it will support the storage of PDO hams extending maturation, a measure linked to the quality of the product since it tends to improve its organoleptic features and, at the same time, helps us generate cash and give continuity to production, stated Vittorio Capanna, President of the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma.

Other measures have been added to the recent provision about private storage: the recent call issued by MIPAAF to purchase about 100,000 Parma hams intended for the poor; the temporary change to the Production Specifications to extend by 30 days the shelf life of pre-sliced Parma ham to support international markets; and, amongst promotional activities, the new communication strategy focusing on points of sales, especially on the deli counters, to promote the consumption of Parma ham.

Although these measures are not enough to ensure a final recovery over time, they are altogether indispensable tools to offer relief to our sector that has already reduced production by 16% in the first 5 months of the year and that is recording an overall loss of turnover of at least 30%.

Furthermore, during the lockdown, the complete closure of the HoReCa channel and the significant decrease of deli counter sales determined a 35% drop, which weakened Parma ham with repercussions on the other links upstream the production chain.  In this very critical phase, it is important to continue working on different fronts, carrying on the dialogue with institutions as every initiative can contribute to relaunching the production chain of PDO Parma ham and of all the other Geographical Indications, continued Capanna.