KÖLLA expects a good stone fruit harvest from Italy

The supply of stone fruit is increasing daily at the German market. The stone fruit season has begun for the KÖLLA GmbH & Co. KG too. The company from Kaarst, near Dusseldorf, imports among others peaches and nectarines from Italy.

The company expects various stone fruits from the growers in Italy starting in last week of May (week 22). The nectarine and peach harvest from the regions of Calabria, Basilicata and San Ferdinando is expected normal to good. The nectarines from Basilicata and San Ferdinando, are expected to arrive in Germany at the first week of June (week 23). This season the yield of the apricot harvest will be 30 percent less than last year.

The first week of June the season will start in the region San Salvo and it promises to be a normal peach and nectarines harvest. KÖLLA states that producers in the Emilia Romagna region to expect a good to very good crop quality starting the week 25. Nevertheless, despite the appealing quality the harvest is expected to be seven to eight percent lower than the previous year. This is a result of the last three catastrophic harvest periods. The old trees were not replaced by new trees. And this causes the low expectations of the harvest volumes despite the optimal weather conditions.

KÖLLA assumes that the apricots region will harvest 30 percent less apricots, especially the early varieties. But according to the company the late varieties will restore the balance again. The plum farmers are also struggling with declining harvests. And again KÖLLA predicts, mainly in the early varieties, about 25 percent less yield.

In the region of Piermont the harvest season is expected to start in week 28. And KÖLLA expects with larger quantities and a significantly improved quality compared to last season. It is still too early for a detailed forecast for plums from Piermont region. However KÖLLA assumes that the harvest will be lower than the yield of 2014.