Italian Bakery on the rise: how the “Italian Sweet Tradition” is Winning over global markets
In recent years, Italian pastry and bakery products have moved far beyond their traditional European strongholds. Today, the “Sweet Made in Italy” segment has become a true global asset. In 2023, Italian exports of bakery and confectionery products reached a record €9.2 billion, marking a +9% increase compared to the previous year.
The trend is even clearer within the baked goods category (biscuits, wafers and assorted sweet bakery products) which alone generated €3.78 billion in exports in 2023, up +13.2% year-on-year.
But the story goes beyond numbers: it’s a cultural shift. Traditional Italian products, yeast-leavened cakes, biscuits, and Christmas specialties long celebrated for craftsmanship and quality, are now entering shopping baskets in regions that only a few years ago were unfamiliar with these traditions. This expansion reflects a growing global appetite for authenticity, high quality and “Italian experience products,” even thousands of miles from Italy.
For international GDO and retail buyers operating in high-potential regions such as Southeast Asia or the Middle East, this moment represents a unique opportunity to differentiate their assortments.
Italian sweet bakery products offer all the right attributes: recognized quality, strong heritage, premium positioning and, thanks to seasonality, strong potential for Christmas and holiday campaigns.
The figures confirm the trend. In 2021, Italian sweet baked goods (including cakes, biscuits, leavened products and traditional specialties) generated approximately €2.4 billion in export revenue, with more than 755,000 tons shipped abroad.
This means that, even considering logistics constraints and local taste adaptations, there is substantial room to build a bakery assortment positioned as “premium & occasional”: Christmas desserts, gift boxes, seasonal items. These are highly appealing to consumers in emerging markets where Made in Italy stands for quality, culture and emotional value.
For retailers aiming to offer more than a simple product, but an authentic experience, investing in an Italian sweet bakery is now a strategic choice.
With record export performance and rising demand far beyond traditional markets, adding panettone, biscuits, seasonal desserts or festive specialties to your assortment means placing more than a product on the shelf: it means delivering added value quality, heritage and emotion..
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