The yellow melon campaign at the Sicilia Bedda farm in Roccamena (PA), Sicily, which started in mid-June, is going well. We talked about it with Franco Altamore who, together with Tommaso Ciaccio, manages the company.
This year we expect to finish the campaign around the end of September or early October, and then go on for another 15-20 days with the preserved product, thus potentially reaching the threshold of November. While the production schedule for early products has been regular, the heat this summer has brought about an advance of about 20 days for the medium-late product, with consequent overlapping with other species of fruit," said Altamore.
"Producer prices in 2021 are showing a certain stability and have never reached exceptional levels. At the beginning, i.e., in June, prices in the countryside were around €0.40 cents per kg, with insignificant variations in intensity and duration; now we are around €0.30 per kg".
At the moment, sales are not very lively, but with the drop, albeit slight, in temperatures over the next few days and, above all, with the end of the cantaloupe campaign in northern Italy, sales are expected to pick up, with rising prices that will perhaps gradually diminish at the end of the campaign," added the businessman.
"We are committed to investing in this reference, to the extent that this year we have increased our surface areas by 20% of the 150 hectares of the previous season, and our commercial partners have appreciated the product and continue to ask for it. Our sizes fully meet the needs of both the large-scale retail trade and the wholesale markets throughout Italy, which remains our target market. France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are, in order, the main destinations abroad, but these are really small quantities, for our customers engaged in the marketing of niche products, to which we reserve a very special selection,” concluded Altamore.
For more information:
Az. Agr. Sicilia Bedda SS
di Altamore Franco e Ciaccio Tommaso
+39 388 355 2614
+39 333 450 6664
[email protected]
www.melonisiciliabedda.it
