No buildings, land or valuables. As a guarantee to the bank for the loan, a warehouse of maturing Parma hams.First financing operation with "revolving pledge" for the Bcc of Treviglio , in partnership with the parent company Iccrea . The operation, the total amount of 1.2 million euros, is in favor of Salumificio San Michele , and is aimed at supporting current operations and supporting the process of maturing the product in the warehouse.
Acting as guarantors, hams with a protected designation of origin destined to end up on the tables of half the world. A characteristic of the revolving pledge, a specific method for PDO and PGI agri-food products , which allows you to dispose of the pledged good and continue to use it in the production process and in the various phases of product transformation.
A non-random choice made by the Bcc of Treviglio. «Salumificio San Michele is a historic customer of ours, the one carried out with our parent company is certainly an innovative operation that allows us to expand the offer of support to the agricultural sector to which 20% of our loans are already destined» he explains the president Giovanni Grazioli. «Through collaboration and sharing projects with Iccrea, we will now be able to support, if the bases are there, other similar operations in the area».
Who could benefit from it? «I'm thinking for example - specifies Grazioli - of the wine and cheese companies, sectors where Bergamo boasts numerous DOC and IGP».
Having become a Benefit company in mid-2023, Salumificio San Michele is a company born over 45 years ago in San Michele and began 45 years ago in San Michele Tiorre (Felino), on the outskirts of Parma, in the heart of the Italian Food Valley.
Over the years it has expanded the business by adding a production plant in Langhirano and a logistics warehouse in Offanengo (Cremona). In the wake of the success of PDO products in the world (the cured meat factory exports to over 30 countries), in 2023 it achieved a double-digit increase in turnover reaching 62 million, over 50% of which on foreign markets.
«For San Michele this step represents a significant milestone that underlines the constant process of company development» comments Caterina Cremonesi, financial director of the company . «The initiative - he adds - reflects our commitment to the fundamental values that have always distinguished us, such as the promotion of Made in Italy and DOP products at a global level, together with continuous attention to the production chain. We are confident that its positive impact can also extend to non-PDO products, which are increasingly requested by the market."
The initiative benefited from the collaboration of CSQA , the first Italian body accredited in the food sector, which drew up the qualitative-quantitative inspection report of the pledged product .
The CSQA inspection therefore responds on the one hand to the needs of companies in the agri-food sector to access the revolving pledge and at the same time of the banks to have a guarantee regarding the quantity of product committed , its industrial and market value , its constant identification and punctual.
«With the Iccrea Group's market share of 10% in agribusiness and with a percentage of loans granted by the mutual banks in the agricultural sector close to 23%, we confirm the importance of the sector for our banking group» underlines Carlo Napoleoni, manager Iccrea Business Division .
«Together with CSQA and Bcc Treviglio - explains Napoleoni - we are the first to set up an operation with the guarantee of the rotating pledge in favor of the Prosciutto di Parma Dop supply chain , demonstrating, once again, that we want to support the working capital needs and development of the great excellences of our Made in Italy". (Source: https://www.ecodibergamo.it/ )