"We shipped a lot of produce to France at the beginning of the campaign and now it's the turn of the Netherlands. Over the past week, demand has also been lively from the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland."
This year, Pietro is celebrating their 20th anniversary of exporting activities. "Eastern Europe has been purchasing more year after year, especially the Czech Republic."
"The fact that these countries are synonymous with bad quality or low prices is a misconception, as high quality can be found in many Czech supermarkets. I mean, we ship the same produce to the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, only the colour is different. The price is more or less the same as well."
According to Pietro, demand is still rather lively abroad for seeded grapes. "Despite the progress with seedless varieties, demand is not very strong. At least in the countries we export to."
Greece and Spain are the main competitors. "As soon as volumes from these two countries drop, we find our place on the market. This year they weren't such a problem, maybe because of the general lack of produce."
The real problem was drought. "Despite of the fact that we had to take turns to access water resources, our private reservoir and sub-irrigation meant we could manage everything. Now we're hoping there will be no flash floods. If the weather stays like this, we should be able to do well."
The campaign will continue until late November.
Contacts:
Pietro Losito
Cell.: +39 335 8332555
Azienda Agricola Losito
San Giovanni Rotondo S.S. 89
Email: aziendalosito@tiscali.it
Web: www.fruttapulia.it
Rosario Ferrara - director coordinator
APOC Salerno
Via R. Wagner K1 (P.co Arbostella)
84131 - Salerno
Tel.: +39 (0)89 331758
Cell.: +39 331 2663528
Email: ferrara@apocsalerno.it
Web: www.apocsalerno.it