Emilia Romagna's agrifood exports hit record

(AGI) Parma, May 9 - Exports of Emilia Romagna's agrifood products reached a record of 5.8 billion euros last year, a 7.4 percent increase on 2014. Coldiretti Emilia Romagna, the local section of the Italian federation of farmers, announced the figures for the 18th Cibus fair in Parma, northern Italy. Absolute values of exports are not the only record figure for the region's agrifood production, as it reached its highest export growth between 2007 and 2015, rising from 3.7 billion euros in 2007 to 5.8 billion euros last year, a 56.7 percent increase. This was higher than the total export figure which, for the same period, was 19.4 percent. This result brought agrifood exports, between 2007 and 2015, from 7.9 percent to 10.4 percent of total exported products. Mauro Tonello, Coldiretti president of Emilia Romagna region, said at the event in Parma: "The positive trend recorded on international markets in the most representative sector of the real economy, proves that in our region, as in the rest of Italy, it is possible to increase growth trends only by investing in local resources which comprise the territory, identity and culture, as shown by the Expo 2015 data, which proved that agrifoods represented a competitive edge without equal, capable of becoming the prime mover of Made in Italy production across the world. " Coldiretti Emilia Romagna estimated that the trend on international markets could improve if there is more effective protection against the so-called international "agrifood-piracy" which steals words, colours, names of places, denominations and recipes, to make non-Italian products seem Italian. Emilia Romagna has the highest number of counterfeit products. Across the world counterfeit products are worth 8 billion euros, of which 4 billion euros are for false Parmigiano Reggiano. The cheese is Italy's most imitated product across the world, from the United States to Australia, from Canada to Japan, including the Parmesao and the Regianito marketed in South America.(AGI) . .