"The citrus fruit campaign is in full swing, however the produce is lacking and the weather is out of control. Fruits are not as ripe as they should be this time of year, even the most highly pigmented are finding it difficult to develop their color. When it comes to our production, consumers are indeed interested in clementines, but this does not in turn push the consumption of oranges," explains Primo Forcina, sales manager at La Forcina Antonio, a company located in Fondi (LT) and founded by his father Antonio in the 1980s.
Forcina Antonio boasts a wide range of products and handles over 15 thousand tons every year, a figure that keeps on growing. The company specializes in the processing and commercialization of: apricots, Navel and Tarocco oranges, Romanesco broccoli, cauliflower, cherries, clementines, strawberries, lemons, persimmons, Miyagawa tangerines, nectarines, peaches and plums. Annurca apples sold under La Timida brand have also been recently introduced.
Antonio Forcina, purchase manager of the company he founded in 1987.
"We are still processing good volumes of Clementines from Calabria (Corigliano Calabro) and Puglia. (Palagiano). We started off with common clementines, then the late Hernandina cultivar became available as of January 15th. Thanks to our trusted suppliers, we always have excellent Italian produce available."
The lower volumes of Clementines available have had a dual effect: prices have skyrocketed and many businesses have had to necessarily source produce from Spain. Production prices hover between €0.90 and €1.10/kg and reach €1.70-1.90/kg on the shelves.
"Despite the drop in production, which can be estimated at around 40%, the domestic produce is of the highest quality as it is appealing and has an excellent taste. This is due to the fact that, sometimes, the climate works miracles: we are currently doing the work we were supposed to do in December. The last time we have had such mild temperatures in January was 15 years ago. This favored production and generated little waste even for the late produce."
"It happens rarely that we can process up to two semis a day (i.e. 50 tons of produce) without waste this time of year! This time, precisely thanks to the mild temperatures, quality is high and the fruit is very much in demand especially in Brussels, Munich and Poland."
"Unfortunately, demand for blood oranges has dropped due to the fact that fruits are not very pigmented. The warm weather slowed down ripening and pigmentation even in Palagonia (CT). It usually happens that oranges are preferred to clementines when the latter are bad quality but, this year, the situation is the opposite."
Forcina supplies big retail chains and wholesalers all over Italy.
Exports represent 50% of the turnover and the produce is mainly shipped to France, Germany, Great Britain and Malta, with fruit also sent to Eastern Europe and to Slovenia, Croatia and Poland in particular.
Contacts: 
La Forcina Antonio
Via della Torre, 91
Fondi (LT) - Italy
Tel.: (+39) 0771 513800
Cell.: (+39) 335 7730696
Email: info@antonioforcina.it
Website: www.antonioforcina.it