Parmigiano Reggiano: 4.19 million wheels a year

Italy produced 4.19¹ million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP in 2025, up 2.7% on 2024 and worth about 168,000¹ metric tons, and the denomination has been in the EU register since June 21, 1996.

The 2025 numbers, province by province

Production reached 4.19¹ million wheels in 2025, 2.7% more than in 2024, equivalent to about 168,000¹ metric tons of cheese. The consortium publishes the split by province, and it is the fastest way to understand the geography of the product.

Those five provinces are the whole zone. Four are in Emilia-Romagna and one, Mantua, is in Lombardy, on the right bank of the Po, which is the detail that ruins the tidy line about a cheese from one region.

The money, and the export share

Parmigiano Reggiano turned over 3.96² billion euro at consumer prices in 2025, and exports accounted for 50.5%² of sales, or 74,980² metric tons. More than half the wheels leave Italy.

That turnover makes it the Italian food denomination with the largest business, ahead of the other two names its own region is known for: Prosciutto di Parma DOP, registered in the same year, and Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP, registered in 2009.

One caveat on the figures. They come from the consortium that protects the denomination, which is a primary source with an obvious interest, and we found no independent confirmation to sit beside them.

Grana Padano is the bigger cheese by volume

Grana Padano DOP reached 6,053,690⁴ wheels in 2025, up 7.4%, about 236,180⁴ metric tons: it is the Italian cheese denomination with the largest volume, well above Parmigiano Reggiano's 4.19¹ million wheels.

It also exports heavily: about 2.76⁵ million wheels in 2025, roughly 45% of production, a lower share than Parmigiano Reggiano's 50.5%² but a larger absolute quantity.

What we cannot give you is the comparison people actually want, which is turnover against turnover. No primary source for Grana Padano's consumer value was available, so the claim that Parmigiano Reggiano leads on money and Grana Padano on volume rests on a firm figure for one and a gap for the other.

What this means at the counter

Two hard cheeses, two rulebooks, two zones, two prices. The name pinned into the rind is the denomination, and it is the part that carries a legal zone behind it.

The practical test in a shop is the zone. If the cheese is Parmigiano Reggiano it came from one of those five provinces, and 3,551,000 of the 4.19¹ million wheels came from just Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena. If it came from anywhere else, whatever it says on the label, it is a different cheese.

For how the protected name system works across Italian food and wine, see DOP and IGP.

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