Loans and cheese mature together in banking programme
(21 Aug 2009) SHOTLIST
Montecavolo, Reggio Emilia
1. Wide Parmesan cheese stacked up on shelves at Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate, which acts as cheese bank
2. Various of Parmesan cheese wheels stacked on shelves
3. SOUNDBITE (Italian) William Bizzarri, president Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate:
We stock the cheese on behalf of our client, ripening here 24 months. When the client needs money to cover his expenses, he asks the warrant issue and goes to the bank to obtain the loan.
4. Various of the warrant
5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) William Bizzarri, president Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate:
This means that, if before the financial crisis the interest rate applied was seven percent, today the client pays an interest rate of three and a half to four percent.
6. Wide quality expert checking the cheese
7. Wide of mechanical cleaning machine collecting Parmesan wheels
8. Parmesan wheel being cleaned
9. Machine placing Parmesan wheels back on the shelf
10. Mid of worker applying certification mark
11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Cristian Bertolini, quality checks expert, Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Consortium:
An advance payment, as the one offered from Credem, is a really positive thing because it gives at least the chance of surviving in this lapse of time, hoping that the market will recover in a short period of time.
12. Various of Parmesan wheel rows
Villa Sesso, Reggio Emilia
13. Pan right from cheese factory sign to cheese factory
14. Wide of cheese master checking Parmesan production
15. Tilt down from cheese master to cheese being produced
16. Wide of cheese master using the spino, a special instrument employed to break up the curd into small granules
17. Wide of cheese mass collecting process
18. Close up of cheese master cutting the cheese-mass in two parts
19. Wide of cheese master transporting the cheese mass and moulding process
20. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Bruno Castagnetti, president Latteria Sociale di Villa Sesso (Parmesan Cheese Cooperative) :
Today the price (paid to the producer) of Parmigiano Reggiano is approximately 7.30 euro (10.45 US dollars) per kilogramme (2.20 pounds) while just a few years ago it was 10 euro (14.31 US dollars).
21. Wide of customers buying Parmigiano Reggiano
22. Wide of employee cutting Parmigiano Reggiano in classic triangle shapes
23. Wide of employee selling Parmigiano Reggiano
STORYLINE:
Producers of Italy's famed Parmesan cheese have been storing their product in bank vaults as part of a banking programme that accepts the expensive cheese as collateral for loans.
The programme is an elegant way for Parmesan producers to pump cash into their business while their product is otherwise sitting on a shelf for the long aging process - their loan matures along with the cheese.
The Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate in Montecavolo acts as a cheese bank.
Row upon row of 39-kilogramme (85-pound) wheels of Parmesan cheese are stacked some 10 metres (33 feet) high age for as many as two years under the care of employees trained in the centuries-old art of Parmesan making.
Under the programme, a cheesemaker will turn over a percentage of his production, say 25 percent, to a bank warehouse like the Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate.
In return, the Parmesan producer is given a certificate which can be presented to the bank to secure the loan.
When the client needs money to cover his expenses, he asks for the warrant issue and goes to the bank to obtain the loan, William Bizzarri, who runs the Magazzini as a subsidiary for the Credito Emiliano (Credem) bank.
In many cases, the cheesemaker then sells the title to a distributor while the cheese is still ageing.
wacky
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Con Pepe Lopez al nuovo locale cubano GUAJIRA GUANTANAMERA a Montecavolo (anteprima)
Visitato per voi: Pepe Lopez al GUAJIRA GUANTANAMERA, un locale cubano a Montecavolo di Quattro Castella (Reggio Emilia). Visitato per voi. Si mangia bene, si ascolta buona musica.
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