"The situation in Dubai is not as serious as shown by Italian media. We feel protected by the country's anti-missile defences, although we obviously cannot have the peace of mind we had before. There are no bombings as some people think, as the Iranian targets are the American bases located at least 120 km away. But when missiles are intercepted and destroyed, the debris falls to the ground. In short, it's a complicated situation for people and, therefore, for trade and fruit and vegetables," reports Luca Antonietti, owner of Nova Fruit, a service company for international trade.
© Cristiano Riciputi | FreshPlaza.comLuca Antonietti
Antonietti lives in Dubai. "We have been working in the fruit and vegetable trade in these areas for 30 years now, and we are familiar with the dynamics even though they have been overturned over the past five days. We are in a situation of emergency, as the shipping companies do not know how and where to unload. Fruit and vegetables are currently stuck on the ships and there is no solution in sight."
The area is very important for the sector: the European Union exports fruit and vegetables to the Middle East for a value of around 500 million euro, and Italy is the largest exporting country (source: Fruitimprese).
"We are constantly on the phone with the companies and things could change at any moment. We'll have to either send the goods back, or unload them somewhere, though we don't know where. Otherwise we'll have to wait."
The Strait of Hormuz has been banned to ships by Iran. "There's a lot of talk about oil, but everything else transits that strait, including fruit and vegetables for Dubai, the Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait. At this time, from Italy we handle the exports of apples and kiwis. Of course, these are fruits with a long shelf life, but that does not mean that they can stay in containers for weeks. The situation needs to be unblocked as soon as possible."
Novafruit facilitates exports by container worldwide, from North to South America, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia. The experience it has gained over several decades has enabled it to perfect a precise knowledge of the specific requirements of the different target markets. "We follow the entire harvesting process, storage and stowage in containers, up to delivery at the port of arrival," he says.
"This situation happened out of the blue because, while it is true that there had been heavy statements in recent weeks, no one could have thought of an immediate war with repercussions on such a scale."
For more information 
Nova Fruit
Tel: +39 010 5954196
[email protected]
www.novafruit.it
