40% of families have reduced their purchases of fruit and vegetables in the last year due to rising prices and lack of time and almost one in three declare that they have changed their diet by favoring longer-lasting foods. A ‘food divide’ that separates those who can afford a healthy and balanced diet from those who, despite wanting it, are no longer able to bear the costs.
Nonetheless, in the comparison of the shopping cart between 2019 and 2024, fruit and vegetables represent a fifth of the families’ food budget. This is what emerges from the Italmercati-Ismea 2025 Report in collaboration with Censis presented to Cnel, the second edition of the study dedicated to the evolution of the wholesale market system and their role in the agri-food supply chain.
A snapshot of how consumer behavior has transformed, with 73% of Italians declaring in the last three years to pay more attention to the origin and traceability of products, while 68% favor local and seasonal foods.
And if 56% choose local markets and specialized sales points more frequently, 49% consider price a decisive factor in choosing fresh products.
The challenge, to which the supply chain has been called upon starting from Italmercati – Italian Agri-Food Markets Business Network (11 billion turnover, 4 thousand companies and over 7 million tonnes of products), is how to intercept consumer demand.
«If we want to go back to buying and eating fresh, quality products – said Fabio Massimo Pallottini, president of Italmercati – we must make the markets modern and accessible infrastructures, capable of promoting competitiveness and convenience along the entire supply chain». Hence the proposal for an overall reform of the wholesale market system, explained Pallottini, “identifying a limited number of national ones, which can act as reference centers for distribution and guarantee greater accessibility to citizens”.
A necessary rationalization process, on which Fedagromercati-Confcommercio agreed, activating “different strategies and roles for each reality, respecting the peculiarities of the territories”. «Wholesale markets are an essential meeting point between production and distribution – said the president of Ismea, Livio Proietti – their evolution is necessary to make the entire agri-food system more efficient and competitive».
Angelo Rossi, advisor to the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida for institutional relations, reminded us that the Government believes in the wholesale market system: the measure of the Pnrr made available for logistics was increased from 160 million to 250 million euros.