"It is not easy, and can't be easy for anyone, to imagine that this new year can bring an improvement of the current adverse situations and circumstances, with which we are confronted on a daily basis," said Vittorio Gona, president of the Italian Coop Alba Bio, on the current fruit and vegetable crisis.
"We are talking about the market crisis, also due to the overproduction in this last period, with prices absolutely inadequate to the seasonal average," continues the president. "I'll provide an example: the datterino quoted a monthly average of €2.40 kg in December, while in this last month the average reached €1.30 kg. Just like that, nearly all greenhouse vegetables. Not only will these differences not generate profit margins, but neither will it be possible to cover the production, processing and logistics costs incurred. The market quotations have not been this low since 2006, when monthly liquidations for clustered tomatoes (smooth round) amounted to €0.90 kg, datterino to €1.30 kg, courgettes to €0.60 kg, cherries to €1.25 kg and midi plums to €0.64 kg."
"Production costs skyrocketed in 2022, reaching levels we could never have imagined," explains the manager. "Hyperbolic increases were seen in raw materials, energy, transportation, management services, labor, and so on. These factors are to be combined with human resource management, which has become increasingly complex, with new labor force hard to find, first due to the various phases of covid spread and then, for problems of unattractiveness of a labor supply that, as an alternative, is seeing alternative types of welfarism often bestowed unconditionally. The utmost optimism we can afford for this new year is, therefore, to succeed in at least containing this phase of crisis that grips our work and unfortunately thwarts many of our efforts to rationalize expenses, innovation and quality improvements in production."
"However, the most important thing remains hope," concludes the expert, "wishing for a reversal of the trend as soon as possible, so that we can return to our usual path of growth. We are confident that these issues will be taken into consideration by the new regional and national government, in order to ensure that agriculture, whether in Sicily or Italy, will be given a brighter future for the new generations. On this occasion, we are wishing recovery to everyone, and in particular to our customers and suppliers who continue to support us, as well as to all in our producers, conferees and all our collaborators."
For more information: 
Vittorio Gona
O.P. Coop. Alba Bio
Cda Ferranta, SN
97010 Marina di Ragusa (RG) - Italy
+39 0932 239003
info@gruppoalbabio.it
www.gruppoalbabio.it