Table grape sales are slow, at least in Cesena, despite the high quality as demand deems to prefer medium-quality produce or an even cheaper one. "At the moment, people are buying lower-quality grapes from Apulia and Sicily and also Italia and Pizzuttella from Canicattì, which has a good colour but is smaller," explains Riccardo Bargellini from Gobbi Gino.
"The market is now very active - in early September, temperatures were high and people were still buying summer fruit. We thought demand would increase, but it did not. Prices are mediocre, with buyers looking for produce around €1/kg."
Italia grapes
Because of this, grapes remain in the cold storage units "and loses 20 cents a day because it is no longer fresh. This way, all kinds of prices can be found on the market - from €1.50-1.60 to €1/kg."
"There is a lot of produce available - only yesterday I was contacted by four new suppliers. It means that we are at a standstill, that there is no demand. In normal conditions, I see the opposite happening - I am the one looking for produce because I've sold everything."
The same is happening also with other products. "Local apples have seen prices drop in 15 days, going from 80 to 40 cents a kg. Only peaches seem to hold on, we managed to reach €1/kg lately for unprocessed fruit in crates."
Author: Andrea Minghelli
Copyright: www.freshplaza.it