Area of peaches and nectarines has decreased in Italy

In recent years over production and a decrease in consumption have considerably influenced the cultivation of peaches and nectarines in Italy. There were also a number of difficult years with unusual seasons, reports the German Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) on its website. This is why more and more producers are dropping out. Figures from Istat, the national Bureau for Statistics, show how the area of peaches and nectarines has developed over the past few years.

There was a strong areal decrease for peaches between 2011 and 2012. The statistic figures show a slightly distorted picture however, as the 2012 areal figure statistics are missing Piedmont and Sardinia. If only the regions of which the figures of both years are viewed, the peach area decreased by almost 8% between 2011 and 2012. The areal decreased especially strongly in the region Emilia-Romagna.

The peach area was even slightly higher in 2013 than it was in the previous year (+1%) but there was still a decrease of 7% compared to 2011. In total, peaches were grown on 47,374 hectares in 2013.

There are also areal figures from a number of regions from some years lacking in statistics of nectarines. If these regions are not taken into account, nectarines were grown on 21,205 hectares in 2013. This means the area was 11% smaller than in 2012, and 23% smaller than in 2011.