The processing tomatoes harvesting campaign in Italy has been regular this year. The harvest is expected to exceed 5 million 600 thousand tons according to initial estimates. This corresponds to an increase of about +10% compared to last year. The climatic trend did not seriously affect the campaign, but for the first time anomalies were found in the procurement of workers. Now the goal is to obtain PGI certification for the Pomodoro Pelato di Napoli in time for the next campaign.
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The campaign has taken place “in a fairly regular way. There have been some initial difficulties with climatic problems, in particular a hailstorm between Parma and Piacenza. In the South there were some difficulties due to the early ripening in the area of Foggia and the delay near Caserta, with overlapping activities especially for transport” – says Giovanni De Angelis, general manager of Anicav (the Italian association of canned food vegetable industries).
The quality of the products, in any case, is “excellent, and the volumes will be a little higher than last year’s transformations, to restore the stocks decreased during the shutdown due to the pandemic, and for the increase in consumption both in Italy and abroad” – says De Angelis.
The Italian tomato industry is worth 3.700 billion euros in turnover, 60% of which is destined for exports. As for domestic consumption, “for the first time in 10 years we have recorded a positive sign both in value and in volume, thanks to the change in consumption habits due to Covid” – De Angelis says.
