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Step forward for Sicilian grapes
Italy
Monday 10 March 2008
The establishment of Sicily's first table grape producer organisation has coincided with the first ever shipments of PGI Mazzarrone table grapes to China, rounding off an excellent year.
The formation of Sicily's first ever association of table grape producers last year has been welcomed as a major step forward for a sector which has not witnessed rationalisation and the development of producer organisations on anything like the scale seen for other major Italian export products, notably kiwifruit and apples. The organisation, which operates under the name 'Ducezio, uva regale di Sicilia' ('Ducezio, Sicily's regal grape'), was unveiled last September at a ceremony in Licodia Eubea, in the Sicilian region of Catania, held to coincide with a trade meeting for the region's table grape sector. Its main aim will be to promote and protect the region's production and the unite and integrate a number of producers, enabling them to develop their sales much more quickly. This season will see the first volumes of fruit marketed to clients in Italy and abroad through the new entity. A total of 21 member producers currently belong to the new organisation, accounting for a production area covering a total of 300ha and located between the provinces of Catania and Ragusa. The area is already well-known within the global table grape sector as the home of the Mazzarrone Table Grapes Protected Geographical Indication, an EU-approved brand that is utilised in the marketing of some 2,500 tons of locally produced table grape volumes each year. The Mazzarrone PGI will be at the heart of the new group's marketing. "The quality of our product gives it enormous potential. Our task now is to fufill that potential, on the one hand through exports and on the other hand by taking important steps to satisfy the demands of the final consumer." Stefano Franzero, director general of Italy's union of producer organisations, Unaproa, believes the formation of the Ducezio producer organisation will be of great value not only to the Sicilian sector but also to the national table grape industry. "The table grape sector currently shows the lowest level of consolidation at a national level, with only 6.1 per cent of total production deriving from producer organisations." Sicily is Italy's largest production area for table grapes. In 2006, output on the island reached 366,532 tons, almost a quarter of the1.51m tons produced in Italy as a whole.
The formation of Sicily's first ever association of table grape producers last year has been welcomed as a major step forward for a sector which has not witnessed rationalisation and the development of producer organisations on anything like the scale seen for other major Italian export products, notably kiwifruit and apples. The organisation, which operates under the name 'Ducezio, uva regale di Sicilia' ('Ducezio, Sicily's regal grape'), was unveiled last September at a ceremony in Licodia Eubea, in the Sicilian region of Catania, held to coincide with a trade meeting for the region's table grape sector. Its main aim will be to promote and protect the region's production and the unite and integrate a number of producers, enabling them to develop their sales much more quickly. This season will see the first volumes of fruit marketed to clients in Italy and abroad through the new entity. A total of 21 member producers currently belong to the new organisation, accounting for a production area covering a total of 300ha and located between the provinces of Catania and Ragusa. The area is already well-known within the global table grape sector as the home of the Mazzarrone Table Grapes Protected Geographical Indication, an EU-approved brand that is utilised in the marketing of some 2,500 tons of locally produced table grape volumes each year. The Mazzarrone PGI will be at the heart of the new group's marketing. "The quality of our product gives it enormous potential. Our task now is to fufill that potential, on the one hand through exports and on the other hand by taking important steps to satisfy the demands of the final consumer." Stefano Franzero, director general of Italy's union of producer organisations, Unaproa, believes the formation of the Ducezio producer organisation will be of great value not only to the Sicilian sector but also to the national table grape industry. "The table grape sector currently shows the lowest level of consolidation at a national level, with only 6.1 per cent of total production deriving from producer organisations." Sicily is Italy's largest production area for table grapes. In 2006, output on the island reached 366,532 tons, almost a quarter of the1.51m tons produced in Italy as a whole.
