The most striking data is that there were no precipitations in south-eastern Sicily in October, something that had not happened since 1871, i.e. ever since weather data has been collected systematically.
It is a well-known fact that south-eastern Sicily, together with the Ragusa and Ispica territory, is the leading new carrot production area in Europe between April and June. New carrots are sowed between September and November and require a lot of water to germinate. The lack of precipitations in October meant artificial irrigation had to be used, with wells dug to over 80 meters deep. The pumps used consume no less than 30/40 kw per hour and irrigation cycles last 24-7.
This could lead to higher production costs, which would inevitably mean higher sales prices already in March 2024.
The quantities envisaged for spring 2024
Cinzia Scivoletto, head of the foreign section of the sales office at Natura Iblea from Ispica, reported that "in our case, the quantities envisaged for spring 2024 are 54,000 tons in total between March 15 and July 15 2024, i.e. around 17% less than last year. The prolonged drought that hit southern Europe prevented us from performing the planned sowing operations. We had to adjust operations based on the availability of the irrigation pumps. We need to bear in mind that south-eastern Sicily, and Ispica in particular, saw the last significant rain in February 2023, almost one year ago! Climate change is already a reality in our area!"
Cinzia Scivoletto
"Luckily the lack of rain did not affect quality. After all, Natura Iblea has been producing organic new carrots for over 20 years. Our motto is 'carrots leave no room for error, so a few good ones are better than a lot of average ones'. With clients such as Edeka, Coop Switzerland and Coop Denmark we cannot afford to make mistakes: we have been supplying them for decades and have had no problems when it comes to quality or chemical residues."
The prices
"As for prices, we expect a lively demand yet low supplies. The prices of spring carrots will increase considerably. Production costs have gone up by around 27% until late November 2023 and they might still do considering the prolonged drought and adverse weather events. We all know organic produce has an added value. At the moment, organic carrots are sold at €0.80/kg in big bags. Winter production areas in Italy should end their stocks already in mid-January 2024. We will be ready with significant quantities no sooner than early March 2024, so there is will be a considerable gap!"
For further information:
Natura Iblea
C.da Marabino
97015 Ispica Italy
+39 0932955696
+39 3270162406
cs@naturaiblea.it
www.naturaiblea.it