"Quality seems to be very good. There has been a delay in harvesting of Victoria grapes in the past few weeks due to the weather and sugar content is still below 13° Brix. Black Magic grapes is instead already being harvested."
The chairman also explains that quantities of fruit grown in greenhouses are slightly less than last year due to the mild winter season. The volumes of grapes grown under films is good and quality should be excellent.
The outlets for the consortium are in Northern Italy, Western and Easter Europe (mainly Belgium, France, Poland and Czech Republic) and Russia. The latter though is not buying as much, "maybe because of the devaluation of the rouble and the geo-political situation."
The produce is doing better on the European markets due to the end of the season overseas, however if Eastern European countries will import later than usual, there will be problems as we will have to deal with oversupply in other markets."
In addition to grapes from Puglia, we also have to compete with produce from South Africa and seedless grapes from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. "We will have to reconsider the situation as we used to be the only ones producing in early June and now they are too and their production costs are lower."
A visit from Canadian importers is scheduled for the end of June, as "new outlets could be an excellent alternative for us."
Contacts:
Giovanni Raniolo - Chairman
Consorzio uva da tavola IGP di Mazzarrone
Email: [email protected]
