Italian flour producers target Indian market

Ambassador of Italy says India can become a global platform of manufacturing in Asia (photo: Press release)

With the aim to promote exports of wheat flour to India and to raise awareness about the versatility, high quality and safety of flour from Italy and more broadly from Europe, ITALMOPA, the Italian Association of Millers, has launched a strategic campaign ‘Pure Flour from Europe’ in India. ITALMOPA has set itself an ambitious target of increasing exports to India by 900 pc in the next two years.

For this, the Italian producers are banking on robust demand from discerning Indian consumers. “We are targeting a market where the consumers prioritise quality and a safe product over price. We are also sharing the technology of food processing with India. It is a priority for India as well as for us. At the same time, Italy is the leading country in Europe in terms of machinery of food processing,’’ Vincenzo de Luca, Ambassador of Italy to India told the gathering.

Saying that the relationship need not be a one-sided one with focus only on Italian exports to India. “India can become a global platform of manufacturing in Asia, this is the reason we are investing in Indian machinery,’’ says de Luca.

Manuela Barzan, project manager of ITALMOPA, says that to achieve the target of increase in exports to India, the promotional campaign, “Pure Flour from Europe’ would be run for at least three years, with regular visits to India to meet the potential buyers. Incidentally, on this visit to India, the Italian delegation had also participated in AAHAR 2022, one of leading food fairs of India.  Barzan says that ITALMOPA will make another visit to New Delhi in December.

The campaign to create awareness of the superior quality and uniqueness of the wheat flour from Europe and Italy among professionals, opinion leaders and consumers in India has been funded by the European Commission.

“We foresee immense growth opportunities in India for soft wheat flour from Italy thanks to higher disposable incomes coupled with a burgeoning young population whose growing preference toward European bakery products like pizzas, breads, cakes etc, is enthusiastic. We are confident that the hygienic, safe and nutritious flour from Europe will have good market acceptability owing to its unique ingredients, traceability and superior quality as it is truly the perfect ingredient for well-known Chefs globally,” explains Antimo Caputo from Molino Caputo and Riccardo Agugiaro from Le 5 Stagioni, two of Italy’s finest producers of quality flours.

As part of ‘Pure Flour from Europe’, ITALMOPA plans to hold numerous  consumer and trade events and product demonstrations led by chefs featuring popular Italian foods. An educational tour to Italy is also being planned to learn more about the flour directly from mills.

ITALMOPA’s plans could, however, run into hurdles due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The war has been a disaster in terms of economic impact in Europe and all over the world for price on oil, food and gas. So, we hope that we can find a solution to the war. We have to stop the war from the attack of Russia, and we hope we can find a diplomatic solution. Ceasefire is the priority, because otherwise the impact on the global economy will be very severe.” Ambassador de Luca told Media India Group on the occasion.

“We are trying to do something as either is Europe but it depends very much on Russia on what they do, if they stop this invasion and attack.” He adds.