Agriculture, Ismea: “Business confidence at its lowest, never so low even during Covid”

The high cost of raw materials and energy depresses the confidence of companies in the Italian agri-food sector. This is what emerges from an Ismea survey conducted in April on its panel, consisting of a sample of 795 agricultural companies and 586 processing industries, and contained in the report “Current production costs of agriculture: short and long term dynamics, effects of cost increases and prospects for companies in the supply chain ”just published. The greatest concerns are expressed above all by companies in the primary sector, where the indicator that measures the sentiment of companies by summarizing the opinions on current business and short-term prospects recorded a sharp reduction, even falling below the levels of the first two quarters of 2020. , corresponding to the onset of Covid and the most acute phase of the pandemic emergency. The confidence index interrupted the progressive and significant recovery implemented in 2021, positioning itself on average at a value of -10.6 (on a scale of values ​​between +100 and -100), with particularly negative peaks for animal husbandry from meat (-25.3) and dairy (-13.7). Confidence for arable crops is also lower than the average, showing a drop compared to the previous quarter, lower in intensity only than that recorded by meat livestock. Of all the sectors, only viticulture and woody crops manage to remain on positive ground, albeit with a marked deterioration in the judgments on a cyclical basis. majority attributable to a negative trend in turnover, as regards the problems on the side of costs and procurement. For two thirds of the companies, the turnover in the period January-March 2022 has not deteriorated, even if the comparison takes place with the first quarter of 2021 marked by the restrictions imposed by the health emergency of Covid-19. to have encountered difficulties in managing the company activity in the last three months due mainly to the increase in current costs, but also to adverse weather conditions, problems in the search for personnel and difficulties in finding raw materials, in particular fertilizers , packaging and consumables. The increase in current costs, in particular, appears to have affected the business activities of over 80% of the dairy farms interviewed, 74% of the dairy farms and the same for producers of eggs and honey, while almost all of the sample (91%) stated that they had experienced an increase in total expenses i for the purchase of the means of production. The most important factor was the energy bill, followed by diesel, fertilizers and feed.