Italy: Import of Egyptian table grapes starts

At Peviani, the Chilean and Indian table grape season is coming to an end. "Results were satisfactory both in terms of quality and quantity. We will continue with Egypt, which has already started with early varieties (Early Sweet) in week 19 (6-12 May 2013, editor's note) which will be available for 4 weeks. Other varieties more popular and suitable for our market such as Sugraone are expected for week 22 (27 May-2 June 2013, editor's note)," explain the company managers.

"Thanks to its strategic position as the European gateway for Egyptian products, Italy has very good opportunities to export these products to overseas retailers. The logistics of the Egypt-Italy route has very much improved in the last few years: now, ships reach our harbours in 3-5 days, so the produce is always fresh."

Table grape requires a lot of labour and, for Italy, this is very limiting considering the costs they incur, which are higher than those of their European competitors. "Research is looking for cultivars which would need less care as to diminish production costs."



According to Peviani managers, the season is looking good even though it is still too soon to make an assessment on the Italian production - they would still need a few weeks to see how the weather will change. Fertility though is good.

"The objective is to submit to our clients an interesting range of varieties throughout the year. In the future, we wish to consolidate our position as leaders in the seedless grape sector, and to develop new varieties together with many other producers provided that they are professional, motivated and interested to share innovative projects."

Contacts:
Peviani
Via Lombardia, 7/9
27010 Siziano (PV) - Italy
Tel.: +39 0382 6785259
Fax: +39 02 57760379
Andrea Peviani
Email: [email protected]
Ettore Guzzi
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.peviani.it