Italian pomegranates are not affected by the weather

The new season of Lome Super Fruit brand pomegranates is at the starting ribbons. "Everything is ready both in the field and in our plant. The harvest will start in the middle of next week (the 35th in 2022). We will start marketing with the three early cultivars (Shany, Emek and Ako), and then proceed with Wonderful until March/April 2023," said Davide De Lisi, production manager of Masseria Fruttirossi, Italy's largest pomegranate producer, based in Castellaneta (Taranto).

Davide De Lisi 

"This year we record an early ripening of about 5-7 days. The fruits are uniform, colorful, good in size and aesthetically beautiful, thanks also to the anti-hail net that, in addition to protecting the pomegranates from climatic events, avoids sunburn and damage from wind friction. Production will certainly be higher than in the previous year, as 5 more hectares entered production, but it will still not be the volumes we would have expected. In fact, the drought season and the torrid heat of early summer slowed down the vegetation, thus leading to a greater fruit drop in the fruit set phase. This is an agronomic situation that, however, will not lead to a reduction in the commercial calendar. We are expecting more than 7 months of sales in Italian and foreign markets."

Thanks to significant storage capacity in controlled atmosphere cold rooms, Masseria Fruttirossi believes it can repeat at least what it did last year, with the last pallets leaving the Apulian plant at the end of March.

"In the first part of the campaign, due to issues of less availability of goods, we will be limited to supplying only Italian brands, but already by mid-September we would be able to guarantee quantity and continuity to European chains as well. It will certainly not be an easy year, the one looming in front of us, if we consider the generalized uncertainty and the price increases that we are facing and for which we often have to bear. In our favor, however, we have the convenience of being a very short supply chain business, capable of ensuring quality, wholesomeness of the fruit, as well as guarantees in terms of business."