It is time to make an assessment on the iceberg lettuce winter campaign. Raffaele Lasciarrea of ILFRES, a company specialized in the import of fruit and vegetables, with partnerships in European productions, draws an overall picture and makes an assessment of a campaign affected, in its second half, by the consequences of Covid-19. Now ILFRES is preparing to start the Dutch iceberg lettuce summer campaign.
Raffaele Lasciarrea.
"The campaign started with major problems, due to the flood that hit the Murcia area in September: this strongly affected the quantity of product available in the first two months of the campaign. Similarly, the drastic climatic changes at the end of March caused problems in qualitative and quantitative terms. Spain, especially the southern areas, seems to suffering from an increasingly "tropicalized" climate and devastating water bombs, from Almeria to Valencia."
"Despite the effects of the Coronavirus, sales have been in line with previous years, which in commercial terms means that for the iceberg lettuce there were no disproportionate increases in orders, as was the case instead for other fruit and vegetable products. We should also not underestimate the negative impact on sales of the stop of the HoReCa sector".
"Despite these extraordinary variables there were no "shocks" for the ILFRES® lettuce in terms of prices or product availability: the supply chain held out and the prices have been satisfactory, allowing growers to pay the field workers as well as intermediate commercial operators".
"Now we are preparing for the distribution of the Dutch iceberg lettuce on the Italian markets, even if the first weeks of the campaign are always very variable in terms of quality and weight, and strongly conditioned by the weather stability, as well as by the amount of sun on the field. For this reason, thanks again to the availability of the Spanish iceberg lettuce, we can offer our customers a product that is always compliant and suitable for the characteristics requested".
"As the Dutch campaign starts, we are studying, together with our commercial partners, an eco-friendly packaging. Instead of the classic plastic bag, our icebergs will be wrapped in eco-friendly materials. We believe this is not an easy road to follow but that it is one to bet on, as well as a social responsibility that we have towards future generations.
ILFRES Srl
Via Copenaghen 7
76011 - Bisceglie (BT)
Tel.: (+39) 080 3925085
Email: info@ilfres.com