Parmigiano Reggiano's US sales grow 7.6% despite tariffs
Exports to the United States reached $340 million in the first five months of 2026, the consortium says, even as fake "parmesan" still dominates American cheese counters.
Parmigiano Reggiano's exports to the United States rose 7.6% in value over the first five months of 2026, to about $340 million, according to the Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano.
Volume grew more slowly. The consortium shipped roughly 7,000 tonnes to the US in the period, up 2.5% on the same months of 2025, when sales were worth $314.23 million. The gap between the two growth rates points to a higher average price, now around $48.5 a kilo at consumer level.
The real cheese still fights a market flooded with imitations. Products sold as "parmesan" but made outside the Parma-Reggio Emilia-Modena zone account for more than 84% of the US market by value and over 92% by volume, the consortium says. Genuine Parmigiano Reggiano holds about 16% of US hard-cheese value and 8% of volume.
Real Parmigiano Reggiano still loses the shelf war to parmesan in name only.
Tariffs complicated the picture for most of 2025. A historic 15% US duty on the cheese was stacked with an extra 10% introduced that April, pushing the combined rate to 25%. A later executive order replaced it with a flat 15% substitute rate that does not stack with other duties on the same product.
Tariffs came and went; sales didn't
Consortium president Nicola Bertinelli said the swings left exports untouched. "We were fortunate not to suffer a negative impact from tariffs," he said, adding that demand held because American buyers kept paying for the cheese regardless of the duty.
The consortium opened a dedicated US subsidiary, Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano US Corp, in New York in 2024, and has since trained more than 700 staff across over 20 retail chains in ten countries through its Accademia Parmigiano Reggiano programme. Global marketing spending reached about €34.3 million in 2025; the budget earmarked for the US alone will rise 47% in 2027.
A shrinking home market pushes exports
The export push comes as the domestic market cools. Italian sales volumes fell 10% in 2025 as consumer prices rose, while shipments to France and Germany, the next two biggest markets after the US, stayed flat. The UK and Sweden bucked the trend, up 7.8% and 8.8% respectively.
Bertinelli's stated goal is to turn Parmigiano Reggiano into a premium American icon rather than a niche import. With imitations still outselling the original roughly nine to one by volume, that shift in positioning, not the tariff rate, looks like the harder number to move. Parma's other famous export is having a similar moment in the spotlight this week.
