CHRISTMAS: LESS SALMON, FEWER OYSTERS, MORE PARMESAN CHEESE
Rome, Dec 24 - People are spending more on Christmas lunch and they are more likely to chose typical Italian products such as Parmesan Reggiano cheese (up 3.8 per cent). On the other hand, spending is down on typical luxury goods such as salmon (down 11.7 per cent), oysters (down 2.5), caviar (down 1 per cent) based on Istat data on imports during the first nine months of this year. This is view of Coldiretti, who point out that each Italian family is going to spend 113 euro less on their Christmas table, 3.7 per cent more than last year, according to Confesercenti estimates. It appears that, in line with tradition, more than nine out of ten Italians spend Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day lunch with relations and friends rather than, at least on this occasion, restaurants. However, for Christmas 2005, they are doing more of their food shopping in the traditional markets (spending up by 10 per cent), mainly to try and combat high prices without sacrificing quality, say Coldiretti. There is a real boom here benefiting the market squares of many Councils, where it's possible to buy local foodstuffs with all the signs of transparency, typical of the various regions, and saving a few bob, partly thanks to market traders dealing directly with farmers. If these trends continue, say Coldiretti, Italians are expected to spend 1.5 billion euro on typical Italian products, i.e. wine and sparkling wines (40 per cent), cheeses (35 per cent), cold meats (20 per cent), extra-virgin olive oil (1 per cent) and vegetables, dried fruit and other products (4 per cent).
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