Although Alvin Frutta has an extensive catalog of seasonal fruits and vegetables to provide customers with a year-round supply of product, stone fruit is still the flagship product for this southern Italian-based growing and trading company. Giuseppina Zito, a businesswoman who runs this young company with her sons, is already fairly well known in the Italian market. In fact, the family has been running the business for 20 years.
Nectarines are sorted and packed
"We have only been operational for a few weeks, but there is already insane enthusiasm on the market for peaches, apricots and nectarines. It really is a magical moment for us. It seems that the bright rains have sparked the desire for summer fruit as a prelude to coming season. However, the hard part lies in finding quality fruit, since the demand far exceeds the supply. Early fruit is selling very well, and prices are significantly higher than last season. We are talking about 30-40% more expensive fruit. Right now, we are shipping more than 70 tons of stone fruit every week to several wholesale markets, such as Turin, Florence, Milan, Padua and Rimini."
Giuseppina Zito
The unpredictable weather conditions and heavy rain over the past two months have resulted in a significant shortage of product. "This season is not comparable at all to last year's," continued the case manager. "We noticed that, according to transport documents from a year ago, 16 pallets of apricots were shipped to wholesale markets during the same period. That was all produce from our own production. To reach that number today, we would have to source fruit from other growers, because our yield from some types of stone fruit is down 35%. Similar statistics can be seen elsewhere and that's entirely due to the bad weather."
Alessandro and Vincenzo Gallicchio, with their mother Giuseppina
"We shipped the last of the Mogadors and Micados apricots a few
days ago, and we are now harvesting, sorting and shipping Primus, Flopria and Tyrinthos. In the case of nectarines, we are in the middle of the early Bomba harvest, then we will continue with Big Top and Big Bang. The first flat peaches will be picked tomorrow. Our harvest ends in October with the late percoca peaches."
In addition to growing his own stone fruit on 25 acres, Alvin Frutta is also benefitting from the cooperation established with several growers based in the regions of Basilicata, Calabria and Apulia. "With the support of a large number of growers, especially in difficult years like these, we can guarantee continuity of supply and even engage in exports. We have recently signed important trade agreements with wholesale and retail customers in Poland, France and the United Kingdom. The first volumes left last Friday, with programs involving at least two trucks per week."
For more information:
Alvin Frutta
Via Roma, 153
75028 Tursi (MT)
az.agricola.gallicchio@gmail.com
+39 3492959772