Conserve Italia: The processing tomato sector does not fear Brexit

Confirmation has recently been received of the good performance of Italian foreign trade in the sector of private labels, thanks to the results of the sector's leading operator La Doria. Now it is the turn of the processing company brands to provide reassurance regarding the solidity of post-Brexit trade flows, and to identify, perhaps, new consumer behaviors that may be promising for tomato products.

Conserve Italia, the Italian number 4 operator (see our TOP50 global processors for 2020, reported in related articles) recently announced that tomato products marketed under its Cirio brand recorded a real leap forward in 2020 and claimed the position of #1 best-selling Italian brand of tomato products in the UK. In a statement from its foreign sales director Diego Pariotti, the group pointed out that its turnover has recorded a notable increase in sales, with a doubling of its growth, which, according to Nielsen figures, impacted the whole of the processed tomato sector in the months preceding the UK's exit from the European Union and resulted in an increase of 23% over this last year alone.

“Our growth pattern,” explains Diego Pariotti, “should not be read as a simple result of the race toward overstocked inventories, which in the first months of the pandemic affected all food products to a certain extent.”
“An analysis of the data shows that it was precisely in the second half of the year, when the panic effect had worn off, that Cirio products experienced the strongest growth (with sales more than doubling), demonstrating that a good number of 'new' consumers, who tried Cirio products during the months of lockdown, confirmed their satisfaction with the brand as soon as supermarket traffic stabilized at more usual levels in the second semester.”

Currently, Cirio's share of the tomato products market is hovering around 10% in the UK, whether through big-chain outlets or independent retailers: it is the best-selling Italian brand in the United Kingdom and second in absolute terms in the canned tomato category.

To consolidate the excellent market performance, Conserve Italia has recently launched a new advertising campaign, digital and television, with the claim “The quality that comes from our farmers' fields”. The communication campaign, which will be on air until May, hinges on a key asset of Cirio's positioning, namely that of being a product that comes from a cooperative chain of over 14,000 Italian farmer members, sealed with the "Farmer Owned " brand .



"We want to continue our commitment to offer British consumers our quality range, at the best possible price – continues Pariotti – while guaranteeing the fair reward of our cooperative supply chain, tracked and monitored from seed to table and which respects strict ethical policies; and it is also a sustainable supply chain because it minimizes its impact on the environment".

At the same time as this communication campaign, a social competition entitled "The Cirio Challenge " (#CirioChallenge) has also started, which aims to bet on the quality of the products: if the consumer does not understand the difference, the company is ready to return the money from the purchase of the products (love it, or money back!).



To participate in the competition, it is necessary to publish videos on social channels in which consumers create dishes using Cirio products; the involvement of English bloggers is also expected to illustrate the preparation of recipes with videos broadcast on the Facebook, Instagram and YouTube platforms.

Sources: freshplaza.it, efanews.eu