The season was positive for blueberries in northern Italy despite the drop in volumes, sometimes as much as 20%, caused by the high temperatures. Quality was good and producer prices were more than satisfactory.
Alessandro Lucchini from Consorzio Piccoli Frutti under the Aurorafruit brand explains that "we registered no problems caused by drought, but rather it was the high temperatures that determined a 20% drop in production. Quality wasn't affected though. Our production is available for five months between June and mid October and we have both early and late varieties."
Lucchini adds that June was mostly dedicated to exports (60%), while Italian retailers absorbed the majority of the production from July onward. "Producer prices were always satisfactory, also due to the fact that there were no overlaps with German or Polish blueberries.
In 2017, Consorzio Piccoli Frutti commercialised 350 tons of blueberries, mostly in 125 gram trays. Other formats are 250 gram trays and 80-150 gram pots. The majority of producers is located in the Verona province and in Trentino.
Gilberto Molari, nursery gardener specialising in soft fruit, reports that the most popular variety (80%) is Duke, which is early, very productive and has a good flavour. Early varieties are popular also because they ripen before Drosophila suzukii starts flying.
Finally, an operator who preferred to remain anonymous reported that in Italy there are too many foreign (Polish) blueberries that are labelled and sold as Italian. "A few checks on residues would be enough to expose them, as Poland allows active principles that are forbidden here. Alternatively, invoices could be checked. Or people could just use good common sense: if some produce is sold at a third of the price compared to the Italian average, it might be because it comes from an Eastern European country where production costs are very low."