"If we exclude around ten days of confusion at the start of the new year, we can say that the artichoke campaign in Puglia has been great for both our suppliers and our wholesale company. It started in mid/late September with satisfactory prices caused by the low volumes," reports Giuseppe Ventura from La Zucca Rossa, located at the Naples fresh produce market (CAAN) and specializing in the sale of pumpkins and artichokes.
Giuseppe Ventura (right) with one of his Egyptian collaborators
"The Apulian origin contributes that something extra and, so far, the produce has always recorded a positive performance. Very few artichokes from Puglia were available in week 5 due to the drop in temperatures, so we also sold produce from Egypt and a few batches from Tunisia to make up for it. The former are appreciated by various clients, while the latter are popular mostly in Rome."
"The Egyptian produce played a key role when produce from Puglia was lacking. Egypt is improving year after year when it comes to quality, although organoleptic qualities and freshness cannot be compared. Artichokes harvested in the morning in Puglia are already on the trucks destined to CAAN in the afternoon and on consumer tables the next day."
Talking about the Egyptian produce, the thought immediately goes to the Red Sea crisis. The wholesaler is not experiencing any logistic problems at the moment and containers are luckily not registering delays. "Ships take 5 days as usual. Transport costs have increased by a few hundred Euro, but I had already taken that into account. I admit we started the campaign with fear and perplexity, but we have loaded many containers without difficulty so far."
Finally, talking about the current average prices, Ventura reports that "the quotations of good quality artichokes from Puglia are €0.50-0.60/head, those of category II artichokes are €0.30-0.40/head. As for Egyptian artichokes, prices hover around €0.30-0.40/head, while the Tunisian produce registers quotations of €0.50-0.60/head due to the high clearance and transport costs. That is why we import less produce from Tunisia."
Photos supplied by Giuseppe Ventura
For further information:
Giuseppe Ventura
La Zucca Rossa di Ventura s.r.l.
+39 333 7007837
info@lazuccarossadiventurasrl.it
www.lazuccarossadiventurasrl.it