The Apulian clementine campaign is now in full swing, and the positive trend in sales has so far brought together operators and producers, after years in which discouragement seemed to have prevailed.
The product is selling, despite the slight and physiological fluctuations in prices, and the weather has allowed the fruit to hold up well, but smaller than expected calibers are proving to be the sore point of the season, to the point of revising supply areas.
Daniele Martucci, owner of Martucci Srl, a citrus processing and marketing company of the same name, explains: "We have been supplying Eastern European countries for several years, but the quantities of clementines exported in the current season will reach unprecedented levels, despite the fact that we started selling 15 days late due to the mild autumn weather. Every day, more than 40 tons of clementines are leaving our warehouse in Massafra and are destined for the wholesalers in Poland and Hungary."
Daniele Martucci
The low purchasing power in the aforementioned Eastern European areas means that sales prices are lower. "We work with a few cents per kilo, but we do an extraordinary amount of shipping," Martucci continues. "Compared to last year's campaign, we have tripled the number of local buyers. In fact, this year's volumes of grade I and II fruit, normally sold in Italy and other EU markets, have been ridiculously low. For this reason, we have decided to redirect shipments to Eastern countries, thus avoiding a significant but undeserved depreciation of the product, which in other areas is considerably appreciated. On the other hand, our sales in Italy have been very low."
For more information:
Martucci Srl
Via Chiatona,
74016 Massafra (TA)
+39 338 2620262
[email protected]
martucci.info