The strategic importance of the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean basin for the Italian fruit and vegetable trade flows is evident, as shown by the calculations of the Macfrut Observatory on internationalization, based on Istat data. This forecast is due to two growth phenomena. In the past 20 years the import trend from these countries has grown in an almost linear way, differently from Italian exports, which have had an exponential trend, growing much stronger than imports. This trend has especially strengthened in the past 5 years, reaching more than 115 million euros of exports linked to spin-off activities.
“These data – says Domenico Scarpellini,president of Cesena Fiera – highlight the good choices that Macfrut has made in the recent past, namely to consider the Mediterranean area as a highly interesting area for the Italian fruit and vegetable system, while the majority of the public opinion was convinced that these countries would represent a threat rather than an opportunity. These data give us confidence in our current decision to carefully look at the evolution of the Sub-Saharan area”.
Among the different products, between 2012 and 2013 the apple has been the leading product for exports to North African countries, accounting for 76% of fruit and vegetable trade flows. Other exported products, but much less important than apples, were pears (6%), kiwis (6%), peaches and nectarines (2%), plums (2%) and vegetables (2%).
If we study more carefully the boom of fruit and vegetable exports to North African countries, we can see that about 50% of all exports to such countries comes from the Region Trentino Alto Adige. It is quite obvious that the apple, the fruit that is the symbol of the region, is leading the exponential trend of Italian fruit and vegetable exports to the promising countries of the Mediterranean area.
Source: Macfrut press office