Editorial PL and Covid-19 pandemic, a new industry-retail agreement to rethink

Pl and Covid-19 pandemic, a new industry-retail agreement to rethink

A year and a half after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to vaccines is the main factor that marks the rhythm of people's daily routine and the world economy. Although the world GDP was expected to grow in 2021 - and these positive predictions will also be reflected on global trade - the slow trend of the vaccination campaign in the world makes it more and more unlikely to reach herd immunity by the next 12 months and be rapidly back to ‘normality’. And that's not all. Companies will also have to consider an increase in production costs: besides prices of raw materials, which should remain high, also transports will be affected. The inflationary risks were hot topics in the last few months and we are experiencing a general degradation of lifestyle, purchasing power and rise of inequalities. In this context, what’s the role of Modern Retail and how can it give its contribution through the PL supply? We have seen how large-scale distribution helped Italy facing the crisis last year. With 425 thousands direct employees, it has been the fifth economic industry for employment growth in Italy in the last 6 years; it was the first one to experiment the implementation of COVID-19 security protocols during the lockdown, leading the way for re-opening in the following months also in other industries. It also confirmed its role in protecting consumers and implementing the Italian agri-food system. Despite the difficult period, the environmental sustainability of its own products and of the upstream processes was firmly continued. However, now it is clear that cycles going in fits and starts will continue to constrain the internal demand for the most part of the industries and new collaboration agreements between retail, industry and consumers will be needed. These agreements will be implemented especially thanks to PL. Which were the new opportunities created in this sense and which are, on the other hand, the critical issues? In the following pages we will see some answers to these questions.

Maria Teresa Manuelli Editorial director