"We were the pioneers of citrus fruit trade in the Sicilian town of Palagonia, as we managed to obtain feedback that reached important figures over the years," reports Francesco Politino (right in the photo) who, together with Sebastiano Di Dio Campisi, founded the business in 2006, increasing the volumes of citrus fruits marketed over the years thanks to the fruit obtained from newly-acquired land and local farms.
"We are experiencing a slow start to the year from a commercial point of view, although we have maintained prices at the average of previous years and quality is high. Consumption has recovered during the last week of January thanks to the drop in temperatures and the flu season reaching its peak, meaning there has been a lot of demand for vitamin C."
In 2006, Francesco and Sebastiano, discouraged by the low margins of traditional citrus fruit trade and by the unsustainable costs of a long supply chain, decided to turn to alternative solutions to market their citrus fruits. The online channel was the way out that led to cutting the costs of the long supply chain and promoting the value of the product outside the local area. Today, in the overall 130 hectares, the two young founders of the company produce Primosole tangerines, Caffin and Nova clementines, Etna tangerines, late Ciaculli tangerines, Monreale, Navel, Moro and Valencia oranges, and, last but not least, Tarocco Gallo, a variety of Tarocco oranges, i.e. the 'queen' of pigmented oranges.
"The commercial calendar runs from October with the first clementine and navel varieties, to early May with the Lanelate and the Sant' Alfio and Meli Tarocco oranges. The introduction to the market of new clones, including early and late varieties, has expanded the citrus commercial campaign, which has gone hand in hand with the qualitative improvement of productions in terms of both resistance to phytosanitary attacks and higher levels of anthocyanins.
"As is well known, Sicily has been plagued by drought for at least three years. As a result, the quality, in terms of fruit size and yield, has varied in relation to two factors: on the one hand, we have farms that have survived the drought thanks to the availability of water and that, therefore, have an exclusive product; on the other hand, there are those farms with no water that left the land uncultivated in the worst case scenario and that, therefore, have not harvested anything, not even for the processing industry. All this has led to a drop in production of at least 40%."
"The entire production is sold exclusively through the online channel. Our customers, with whom we maintain close contact, are very knowledgeable about the varieties and specific characteristics of the products. We find that they are equally curious about the cultivation techniques we use in the planting process, especially since they look for natural fruit that is not chemically treated. We package our product in American-type boxes of 10 or 17 kilos, at the customer's discretion, with no extra cost for shipping."
"We commercialize citrus fruits, which are among the products of excellence of Sicilian entrepreneurship and which we therefore intend to promote as typical of our territory. Thanks to online commerce, which has actually saved us from depreciation, we are able to deliver freshly picked assorted citrus fruits, a symbol of the Sicilian citrus tradition, to our customers' homes within 24/48 hours. Prices are good because there are no intermediate steps - we offer juicing oranges to customers at €1-1.20/kg, and good-sized table oranges at €2-2.20/kg."
For more information:
Azienda Agricola Arancia Doc
Politino Francesco
Via Fiume, 32
95046 Palagonia (CT) - Italy
+39 392 7626357
[email protected]
www.aranciadoc.com
