Going against the general trend, food turnover is also growing compared to last year with a 2.2 percent increase in September driven by Christmas. This is according to Istat data on industrial turnover in September. This is a positive sign in the preparation of stocks for Christmas when traditionally the highest values of food consumption of the whole year occur. Agribusiness with food and wine gifts, lunches and dinners is, in fact, the heaviest item in the budget that Italian families allocate to the end-of-year festivities, from Christmas to New Year's Eve. Food spending is a special indicator of the state of the national economy since agribusiness, from the fields to stores and restaurants, is Italy's first extended supply chain with an annual aggregate turnover of 600 billion euros, according to The European House - Ambrosetti data.
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