In the past few days much has been said about the downward price war affecting clementines, since they are sold at bargain prices in supermarket chains. On this topic, we have a comment from the Cooperative Clemj Puglia of Palagiano, in the province of Taranto, which deals with the storage and processing of citrus fruits.
"The desperation that I hear seems really excessive to me. A wave of negativity has been unleashed since the first weeks of sales. Yet there are no reasons for a negative year; given the drop in production, we should work well and with serenity. The product is of good quality and the size is excellent", explains the president of the cooperative.
"As far as the clementine market in the province of Taranto is concerned, at the moment we have no particular critical issues. There are no serious situations that create distortions in the market. The prices are right, they vary depending on the processing, but so far we have definitely not dropped below 1.20 euros/kg. In the coming days, the price will undoubtedly see a fall precisely due to the arrival of the produce of so many other areas. Only then can there be the real test."
"If a product has positive characteristics from an organoleptic point of view, we will try to direct it towards channels capable of appreciating it and willing to pay it a few cents more. At this point, it becomes important to understand how farmers are organized. If they are not associated with organizations or cooperatives, and therefore are waiting to sell the product on the plant, then they will be more subject to speculative actions. But, if producers are more organized, they have a greater chance of avoiding these speculative phenomena".
"As a cooperative, we supply a well-known chain of large-scale retail trade, but we have implemented a supply chain project that focuses on territoriality, genuineness and food security. Perhaps this is why we did not encounter negative situations with prices. That's why we suggest that all our friends establish rock-solid business relationships, as well as to fight in all possible ways, as we will do, the speculative phenomena in their own production territories carried out by ruthless "profiteers"".