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COS Italy shipments overseas for the 2017/18 campaign

Shipments overseas will be "peculiar" in the 2017/18 season compared to previous years. As is well known, in fact, a drop of respectively 14 and 23% is expected for apples and kiwis, so volumes will be sent mainly to local markets.

Nonetheless, we believe we should take advantage of this situation and turn this into a sort of "sabbatical year" to reflect on flows and on protocol application

Starting in September, CSO Italy and Assomela have been busy organising and managing two inspection visits regarding apple protocols with Vietnam and Taiwan. Representatives from the two countries assessed our production, processing, storage and commercialisation systems and were impressed with our attention to quality and safety. We are hoping both protocols will be signed between the end of this year and the beginning of the next. This way, we would have all the time necessary to prepare ourselves and start shipping already from the next campaign. As regards Vietnam, the kiwi dossier will be addressed as soon as the apple one is over.

One of the next steps will be to negotiate the export of apples to Thailand. What is more, South Korean representatives will come to Italy for a protocol visit to start kiwi exports. Inspectors will go to Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Lazio.

China is a very interesting market and CSO is working to make the market easier to access. For example, we are working to have them accept cold treatments and the use of ships that could reduce transit times. But an option which is really interesting is train transport along the Silk Road, so refrigerated containers could reach their destination in 18-20 days' time. 

We are hoping all of this can be used for citrus fruit as well, so as to keep quality high.

After the citrus fruit dossier is over, it will be the turn of apples, pears and table grapes. The Chinese authorities had apparently accepted to negotiate both species together, but it turned out the time frame would have been much longer as the protocol required two different commissions and separate inspections with the risk of one product blocking the other. Therefore, Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane – Settore Agroalimentare, Assomela and Fruitimprese, coordinated by CSO Italy, chose pears as the priority with the hope of finishing the protocol in the shortest time possible so as to move on to apples and table grapes.

A lot of work must be done this year to prepare the ground for next season. The entire production world should do it best to conquer new markets and simplify existing conditions.
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