"This year's pomegranate harvest did not meet the forecasts mainly due to the autumn rain that fell heavily during the ripening period, causing the fruit to 'crack'. In addition, the spring frost affected some areas. These are two extraordinary weather phenomena for our territory," reports Dario De Lisi (in the photo below), commercial director of Masseria Fruttirossi, the main Italian pomegranate producer on over 360 hectares of property in the Castellaneta Marina (Taranto) area in Puglia.
© Masseria Fruttirossi SrlDario De Lisi
"That is why we estimate that we should be able to conclude the marketing of the fruits as early as mid-December, well in advance of last year when we recorded a record harvest of 7,100 tonnes of pomegranates."
This year, the Italian company has experienced a significant reduction in harvested volumes. The same phenomenon has also affected other producing countries in the Mediterranean area, such as Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Therefore, it is easy to foresee that, in the period of maximum demand for pomegranates, i.e, traditionally before and during the Christmas holidays, there will be difficulty in obtaining supplies from this area.
© Masseria Fruttirossi Srl
"The programme for the transformation of pomegranates into juice, concentrate, and arils for the fresh-cut segment, which are marketed under our Lome Super Fruit brand name, continues according to plan. In order to defend ourselves against possible frost issues in the future, we are extending the implementation of anti-defrost systems, along with the use of powerful automated fans," explained the commercial director of Masseria Fruttirossi.
In spite of what has happened this year, the project to expand the production capacity of Masseria Fruttirossi is going ahead. This includes the acquisition of new groves in the production area, as well as the construction of a new building where a second production line with a four-channel grader will be installed, with over double the capacity of the current one and an additional 5,500 square metres of storage space, also with controlled atmosphere cold storage units.
© Masseria Fruttirossi Srl
"We are counting on strengthening our position as national leader, which already sees us as the leading Italian producer of pomegranates with 200,000 plants on over 360 hectares. Our ultimate goal is to extend our marketing capacity to cover the entire year," concludes De Lisi.
For more information:
Masseria Fruttirossi
C.da Terzo Dieci snc
74011 Castellaneta (Taranto) - Italy
+39 099 9647688
[email protected]
lomesuperfruit.com
