Quick Take — The Italian organic label is launched

greater value for supply chains and ‘Made in Italy’ products. It will appear alongside the European Union’s organic production logo.

… “In 2025, the positive trend in domestic consumption will strengthen, rising by over 9 per cent compared with the previous year. The value of organic product consumption in Italy will reach 4.4 billion euros (a 9.2 per cent increase on 2024), the highest ever recorded, accounting for 4 per cent of the total value of national agri-food expenditure. Eight regions, together with the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, have already exceeded the European target of 25 per cent of utilised agricultural area under organic farming, which in 2025 accounts for 19.4 per cent of the total national area (2,377,749 hectares). There are, meanwhile, 95,389 organic producers, of whom 85,443 are farms.”

The sector faces many problems: are we putting obstacles in the way of organic farming, whilst encouraging the use of pesticides, and promoting wine, the excessive consumption of which is carcinogenic?

Furthermore, large-scale retailers have trivialised private-label products, stripping them of their value.

The result is that the area converted to organic farming in Italy fell (-5.4 per cent) in 2025, as highlighted by Giuseppe Coletti on LinkedIn.

Labels and advertising – I’m thinking of the pasta adverts – are of no use whatsoever if the sector is, in fact, penalised by a decree that undermines its very survival.

King Kullen: why the first US supermarket was at the forefront of global distribution

Italian, French and British retailers have drawn inspiration and lessons from their American counterparts. And the chain that opened its first supermarket 96 years ago is still family-owned: in June, King Kullen appointed its first female president, Tracey Cullen, the founder’s great-granddaughter

Quick Take — NewPrinces-Gs: the second quarter shifts gear

NewPrinces-Gs: the second quarter marks a change of pace

NewPrinces reports broadly stable volumes.

More significant is the comparison between the first two quarters of the year. Half-year EBITDA reached €170.1 million, up 64.1 per cent, with an EBITDA margin of 5.6 per cent, an improvement on the 4.8 per cent recorded in the first quarter; more importantly, EBIT rose from a loss of €4.4 million in the first quarter to a profit of €19.1 million in the second, whilst net profit turned from a loss of €22.6 million to a profit of €16.8 million. The half-year thus remains slightly in the red, by €5.8 million, but the trend between the two quarters is clear.

Similarly, EBITDA now shows a stronger performance than EBIT: depreciation, amortisation and write-downs rose to 155.4 million, compared with 49 million in the first half of 2025, partly due to a significantly altered scope of operations…