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Coldiretti: closing at 6pm costs 1 billion in food and wine
The early closure of catering at 18.00 with the collapse of the activities of bars, ice cream parlors, pastry shops, trattorias, restaurants and pizzerias has a negative cascading effect on the national agri-food sector, with a loss of turnover of over one billion due to lost sales of food and drink in the month of application of the containment measures. This is what emerges from an analysis by Coldiretti, in reference to the launch of the Dpcm, in relation to the impact on the entire agri-food chain of the closure of restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors and pastry shops at 18.00 and the spread of smart working that cuts lunch breaks. A drastic collapse of the activity which – underlines Coldiretti – weighs on the sale of many agri-food products, from wine to beer, from meat to fish, from fruit to vegetables but also on high-quality meats and cheeses that find in out-of-home consumption a important outlet market. In some sectors such as fish and wine, catering – states Coldiretti – even represents the main marketing channel in terms of turnover.
The expenditure of Italians for lunches, dinners, aperitifs and breakfasts outside the home before the coronavirus emergency – he underlines – was equal to 35% of the total food consumption of Italians. About 330,000 bars, canteens and restaurants along the Peninsula are involved in the catering business, but also 70,000 food industries and 740,000 farms along the supply chain committed to guaranteeing supplies for a total of 3.8 million jobs. “The limitations on business activities must therefore provide for adequate economic support along the entire supply chain and measures such as the decontribution extended also for the next deadlines, exceeding the limit of state aid”, said the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini in emphasizing the need to “safeguard the national agri-food system which represents the country’s primary wealth and plays a driving role for the entire Made in Italy economic system in Italy and abroad”.
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