Wal-Mart Stores and the Italian trade agency ICE have joined forces to promote Italian food and drink in a deal that will see a new range of products developed for sale in the retail giant’s domestic stores.
Under an initial one-year deal, a line of Walmart-branded products will be imported directly from Italy for shelves in the US.
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The products will carry the “Extraordinary Italian Taste” logo, which will also appear on all promotional and marketing materials within Walmart’s 3,600 stores.
Last year, Italian food and wine exports to the US UShit $4.6bn, a 4% increase on the previous year. Ice cream accounted for much of this growth, recording a 34.5% increase, while sweet and cocoa-based products increased by over 31%, rice by nearly 9%, olive oil by 6.6%, wine by 6.6%, and vegetables and fresh fruit by almost 5%.
A spokesperson for Wal-Mart said the world’s largest retailer was “very excited” about the deal and said it would “share more information in the future”.
