Italy should export more to Spain

Wholesale market operators also attended Fruit Attraction Madrid (18th-20th October 2017) as part of Fedagro Mercati. And it couldn't have been otherwise, as Italian wholesalers import considerable quantities of produce from Spain.

"To us, the Iberian peninsula is important for fruit imports. We complete our range with products that are difficult to source in Italy or that are not supplied regularly. But we would need strategies to make us equal as, currently, Italy imports far more than it exports to Spain," explained Valentino di Pisa.

Fedagri currently includes 23 local Fedagro, representing the leading Italian wholesale markets: Bergamo, Bologna, Brescia, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Fondi, Genoa, Giugliano (NA), Mestre, Milan, Palermo, Parma, Pescara, Pistoia, Rome, Savona, Turin, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Verona and Vicenza. 500 companies are part of it and it employs approximately 4,500 operators.

Group photo at the Fedagro stand

Does it still make sense to talk about wholesale markets in 2017, when the trend is veering towards retail chains? Di Pisa has no doubt about it: "high-quality products pass by our operators first. If a company wants to push a brand, it comes to us because wholesalers pay attention to high quality fruit. But our operators need to evolve too, provide more services and offer buyers something more."

There are 142 markets all over the Italian territory handling approximately 60% of all Italian fruit and vegetable products. Wholesale companies register a turnover of €13 billion, generated by the 11 million tons of produce handled, and they employ 42,000 operators.

"Italian markets need to reorganise as there are too many - just think that there are over 50 of them in Campania alone. We cannot wait any longer. In addition, we would like the political world to introduce some programming, as everything is left in the hands of single companies."

Contacts:
Fedagro Mercati
Tel.: 06 583338067
Email: fedagro@confcommercio.it
Web: www.fedagromercati.it