Even in Italy they are the Queens of the Happy Hour: from Spritz cocktails to sparkling wines, not to mention dry martinis, can olives ever be missing? In fact, they accompany 39% of aperitifs consumed outside the home, research reveals. And it is also thanks to the boom in this consumption occasion that olives have become the most cross-cultural and "worldly" of vegetable preserves. The number one in terms of notoriety index (80.7%) and number of current (67.8%) and future (91% penetration among young people) consumers, as revealed by the study conducted on behalf of Unione Italiana Food. Among canned vegetables, olives are also those with the highest turnover, with nearly 295 million euros in sales transited in supermarkets in 2023, 6.3% more than the previous year. Italy has a long tradition in these products: it is a major global player (seventh overall in a sector where production has tripled over the past 30 years) and has specialized competitors that take olives all over the world. Such as Ficacci, which was founded in 1964 with the olive trade in the Roman markets and has now reached 34 million euros in turnover (+15% over 2022), 20% of which is made abroad (and particularly in the U.S.), with a daily production of about 25 tons of olives.
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