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Red alert for citrus fruit
Italy
Tuesday 15 December 2009
According to the Italian Farmers Confederation CIA, the situation of the citrus fruits' sector in Italy is unsustainable, as producers are sailing in very troubled waters.
According to the Italian Farmers Confederation CIA, the situation of the citrus fruits' sector in Italy is unsustainable, as producers are sailing in very troubled waters.
"We are deeply concerned about the trend of the citrus marketing year. As a matter of facts, even if on the one hand we are witnessing an increase in production by more than 40 percent over last year, on the other hand there is an increasing pressure derived by imports from the Mediterranean countries - as for fresh produce - and from Brazil - as for concentrated juice. This pressure is leading to a total collapse in prices, especially for products intended for processing". This is the warning of the Italian Farmers Confederation CIA, which raises the alert on the crisis the Italian citrus industry is facing.
Currently - CIA stressed - blond oranges (Navels) are purchased by the processing industry at 7 Eurocents per kilo (in some cases at 5 cents), including the cost of transport. This factor is also undermining the harvesting, as the cost is higher than the sale prices. The Association's concern can be extended to the Sicilian Tarocco variety- that are going to enter the market - whose price is likely to drop as an obvious effect of the blond oranges' low prices.
Among producers - CIA warned - there is total uncertainty due to the lack of a coordinated organization of the supply. Growers are also concerned by the announced amount of the incoming Spanish oranges - whose production increased as well this year. However, what is most worrying for Italy's citrus growers is the Brazilian juice - continues CIA. is that even if concentrated juice is traditionally imported to Italy from Brazil, prices have never been as low as today. A kilo of Brazilian concentrated juice costs 1.27 euro, while the production cost alone of an equivalent amount of Italian product comes to be about 1.80 euros.
According to CIA, the situation is even more serious due to a lack of organization coming further to the end of European aids. Producer organizations and individual producers must be brought together in order to overcome their natural weakness in negotiation, through a process of product aggregation which cannot be further delayed.
Currently - CIA stressed - blond oranges (Navels) are purchased by the processing industry at 7 Eurocents per kilo (in some cases at 5 cents), including the cost of transport. This factor is also undermining the harvesting, as the cost is higher than the sale prices. The Association's concern can be extended to the Sicilian Tarocco variety- that are going to enter the market - whose price is likely to drop as an obvious effect of the blond oranges' low prices.
Among producers - CIA warned - there is total uncertainty due to the lack of a coordinated organization of the supply. Growers are also concerned by the announced amount of the incoming Spanish oranges - whose production increased as well this year. However, what is most worrying for Italy's citrus growers is the Brazilian juice - continues CIA. is that even if concentrated juice is traditionally imported to Italy from Brazil, prices have never been as low as today. A kilo of Brazilian concentrated juice costs 1.27 euro, while the production cost alone of an equivalent amount of Italian product comes to be about 1.80 euros.
According to CIA, the situation is even more serious due to a lack of organization coming further to the end of European aids. Producer organizations and individual producers must be brought together in order to overcome their natural weakness in negotiation, through a process of product aggregation which cannot be further delayed.
