Italy: Tomasini Enzo aims to become leading brand of Italian white onions

"The yield of onions was 10-15% lower in respect to last year, mainly because the weather delayed sowing by 30-40 days. Quality though is excellent, thanks to the ideal growing conditions, especially the lack of disease and the fact that it did not rain during harvesting," says Matteo Tomasini, sales manager of Società agricola Tomasini Enzo.

The company, established in 1987 in Budrio (Emilia-Romagna), currently covers 100 hectares and produces, stores and sells onions (35 hectares), garlic (7 ha) and potatoes (8 ha) as well as cereal (50 ha).

"Each year, we sell 2,000 tonnes of onions on average, 90% of which are white, 100 tonnes of garlic and 400 tonnes of potatoes. We take care of production directly: we select the varieties according to the feedback from the market and performances during storing and we use good agricultural practices. Therefore we have a very short production chain."

The company has a storage and packing centre covering 1,700 sq m with cold storage units that can hold up to 1,200 tonnes and modern processing lines. The company also relies on external companies when it needs to increase its storage capacity.

In 2011, an 80kW photovoltaic plant was installed on the roof of the warehouse, enabling it to save on energy costs. The company has the GlobalGAP certification.

The company ships its entire production to wholesalers.

Onions are available in 5, 10 and 25kg bags, crates or plastic or cardboard single-layer basket boxes. The internal market buys 60% of the production, and the remaining 40% is shipped to North-East Europe.

According to Tomasini, the demand/supply ratio is quite balanced, as supply is lower than last year, whereas demand is strengthening in the last few weeks. "We hope demand will increase thanks to the drop in temperatures."

"White onions are being affected abroad by competition from Spain, prices are always competitive, though quality may not be as good. In fact, people seem to appreciate the Italian produce more."

"As regards to the future, we want to increase the value of our brand by promoting the high quality of our produce in addition to customer retention and to the development of new markets." The company therefore aims at becoming a leading brand - an ambitious project which is thought attainable by such an expert and efficient company.

Available on Tacler (www.tacler.com).

Contacts
Società agricola Tomasini Enzo s.s.
Dott. Matteo Tomasini, sales manager
40054 Budrio (BO)
Tel./Fax: (+39) 051 69 25 021
Email: matteo.tomasini@tomasinienzo.it
Web: www.tomasinienzo.it