In wholesale markets, it is a secondary item, as it is not a leading product for greengrocers and pedlars. We are talking about grapefruit, a citrus fruit that is more common in large-scale distribution, but that is also growing in the Horeca channel.
Paolo Bernardi, from Bologna's agricultural and food centre: "From my experience, I can assure you that demand for grapefruit from our customers is not strong. It is a secondary item. It mostly comes from Spain, Israel, Turkey, Cyprus, South Africa and Florida. There are also small production areas in Sicily. In recent years, Turkey and Cyprus have grown in terms of their presence in our markets".
Bernardi points out that, in hotels and bars, grapefruit is widely used for a mix of juices and smoothies, while normally in families it is not a very present fruit. In recent years the pink grapefruit has been preferred to the traditional one.
"In summer it is imported from South Africa and Florida, even if the American ones sometimes present cosmetic imperfections. In recent days I have had offers of first quality Spanish grapefruit, well packaged, at 1 euro/kg, but normally in this period we also find lower prices".