Agri-food, Mutti: “We expect revenues of 550 million, despite the drought”

“It was the dot-com period and when, at 26, my father asked me if I wanted to join the company, I accepted. At the time Mutti was a company that was not growing and had a turnover of 10 million euros a year. Today we expect revenues of 550 million despite the heart-stopping year due to the drought, even if the tomato does not require a lot of water (50-60 liters per kg) if compared, for example, to wheat (1100 liters per kg) “. And ‘as stated, in an interview with the newspaper’ La Ragione ‘, Francesco Mutti, CEO of Mutti Spa, the world queen of tomatoes. The energy issue also weighs heavily, especially for this sector which transforms the raw material in the quarter summer, the one most affected by price increases. “Two years ago, for the same quantities of product, we had a cost of 3.5 million, this year we expect an expenditure of 40 million”, explains Muti. Will the newly launched aid be enough? “The question revolves around how to exploit it, because today the deadline of 31 December does not allow the banking system to take charge of it and make it liquidable for companies. It is important that the government clarifies the point, the sector employs 50mil to workers ”, comments Mutti. Italy is the second player in the world in tomato processing, immediately after California; China is third even if in the past, for a period of time, it had overtaken us. “To protect the made in Italy, in collaboration with the University of Piacenza, we have developed a method that, thanks to the analysis of the rare earths present in tomatoes, allows us to understand whether this comes from northern or southern Italy”, Mutti points out. Regarding the South, the theme of undeclared work remains, a widespread practice among those involved in the collection: “In general, it is a question of a social impoverishment that affects everyone. Because those companies – Mutti brand – that employ illegally, offer a product at a lower cost not because they are the best but only because they do not respect the rules. It is therefore necessary to develop policies that increase the attractiveness of businesses. In Italy there are 55 thousand companies, but over 50% of exports are made only by 0.2% of these. With an average size of under 9 workers per company, corporate dwarfism is a huge problem, ”he continues. Finally, can the basic income represent an obstacle to growth? “No, when it helps families in real difficulty but its non-temporary nature creates a distortion on the market, fueling illegal work, not allowing the economy to develop in a healthy way. To get out of the problem, an overall industrial vision is needed ”, concludes Mutti.