hope for higher prices for healty clusters
Italy: Significant damage to seeded grapes 'Italia'
"Outstanding amounts were found on all varieties of grapes produced, as well as perfect organoleptic quality, helped by favorable climatic conditions. Markets, however, have been up and down, without any programming in supplies and prices almost always unstable."
"Finally it seemed to be the perfect time for our Apulian grapes since the production of Sicilian grapes had suffered severe damage from persistent rain and humidity. Moreover, we recorded a delay in the market for grapes from South Africa, Chile, Peru. So we hoped it was preparing an optimal continuation of the late sales of our products. Suddenly, alas, even in our production areas of Bari, Taranto and Foggia, the same climatic conditions as in Sicily occurred!"
As stated by Teresa the rains, and especially the humidity, allowed the proliferation of the fungus Botrytis, that in a short time caused the loss of several tons of grapes still to be harvested, in particular the famous and appreciated seeded variety 'Italia'.
"The damage was significant, many tons have been lost and a lot has been rejected by supermarkets," said Teresa. Fortunately, there are still lots of healthy products in the fields, whose quality remains very high. It should remain so for some time, fueled by the mistral winds that finally blow. Many tons of grapes are also stored in the cold storage of many companies."
In conclusion, Teresa hopes that these conditions favor an increase in prices for those "healthy" grapes that are going to market in the next few days, given the amount of product lost and the upcoming holiday season, no family would forego brining a nice bunch of grapes from Apulia to the table!
Contacts:
Teresa Diomede
Gruppo Racemus
Viale del Commercio lotto 17-19
70018 Rutigliano (BA) - Italy
Phone: +39 0804761325
Fax: +39 0804725731
Email: info@racemus.com
Web: www.racemus.com