GITC Raises Alarm Italian Coffee Sector Performance -40%
“Italian Coffee Roasters Group asks for a discussion
table from the Draghi government. The world of Made in Italy coffee was close
to -40% of turnover in 2020. To protect Italian coffee roasters and in support
of restaurateurs, GITC raises the alarm to the Prime Minister Draghi and to the
Ministries: an immediate comparison on compensation is necessary, openings of
public businesses and non-repayable MIPAAF grants for the entire Ho.re.ca.
sector "
March
27, 2021
Coffee
Geography Magazine
It is
with a letter addressed to the Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the Ministries
that Gruppo Italiano Torrefattori Caffè , an association that brings together
225 companies in the sector, takes a stand against the lack of perspective and
proportionality of the latest restrictive measures and becomes the spokesperson
for an entire Italian supply chain now on the brink of the abyss.
The
loss of turnover in 2020 for the coffee sector reaches a peak of 40%, a true
excellence of Made in Italy in the world, which, together with catering,
suffers from the limitations imposed during the health emergency by COVID-19.
Still
today the recovery and organization of the Ho.Re.Ca sector are prevented by the
time horizons of a maximum of two weeks dictated by the latest decrees, which
do not allow any planning margin for public establishments: an alarming
scenario that annihilates the possibility to face the economic tsunami that is
sweeping bars, restaurants, hotels and all related supply chains, which in 2019
represented 18% of Italian GDP.
Alessandro Bianchin, President of Gruppo Italiano Torrefattori Caffè
"To
protect the Italian coffee roasters and close to public establishments, we have
consulted the Prime Minister and the competent Ministries to undertake to act
now, to stem the wave of bankruptcies that risks becoming unstoppable - says
Alessandro Bianchin, President of the Italian Group Coffee roasters - we are
available for a serious discussion that leads to the revision of the directives
and the adoption of new protocols that allow companies to plan and work. "
Extending
a hand in support of catering, GITC brings to Draghi and the Ministries of
Economy and Finance, Economic Development, Agricultural, Food and Forestry
Policies the widespread discontent among traders and underlines how the new
provisions are now taking on an oppressive and punitive for public
establishments.
"It
is no longer sustainable, almost a year after the outbreak of the health
emergency, to continue to adopt a method that does not allow any planning
margin for entrepreneurs, dictating openings and closings from one day to the
next", Bianchin reiterates in the letter.
Among
the proposals made by the Italian Coffee Roaster Group , the most important
association in the coffee roasting sector since 1954, there is the expansion of
the time slots of use to avoid the risk of gatherings, connected to restricted
accesses and by reservation for certain types of services. One way to ensure
spacing and tracking, while still allowing restaurateurs to work.
Finally,
in the letter there are four points of interest on which GITC draws attention:
more clarity and certainty about the refreshment points; compensation and
greater inclusion for the benefit of the related supply chains and therefore of
coffee roasters; opening of public businesses with an extension of the time
slot also on the condition of new and updated protocols; inclusion of Italian
espresso coffee in the non-repayable MIPAAF grant dedicated to the Ho.Re.Ca.
channel for the purchase of Italian products.
Gruppo
Italiano Torrefattori Caffè will monitor future developments with the aim of
representing the category and its requests towards institutions, while at the
same time contributing to the growth, training and development of the sector.