The current campaign is rather dynamic and continuously evolving. While the Sicilian zucchini trend fluctuated a lot as temperatures influenced consumption and prices, the price of date tomatoes was rather stable also thanks to commercial agreements. FreshPlaza talked to Bio Agnello (part of the BIA consortium), a company producing mainly new carrots from Ispica, to discuss the seasonal trend.

“The zucchini campaign fluctuated a lot this year due to the continuous changes in temperature which in turn affected prices. Consumption drops when it is warm and so do prices. All in all, however, we cannot say it has been a bad year,” explained sales manager Nunzio Agnello.

“Over the past few years, we specialized in the cultivation of date tomatoes and have reached a high quality standard. We adjusted our management and processing lines. We produce date tomatoes around 10 months a year and commercialize it at a constant price, more or less, throughout the period.” 

The core business
“The new carrot campaign has been rather difficult so far. We usually start harvesting in late January and finish in June, but there has been a two-month delay this year. Everything started with the heavy rain of October 25th, which affected 70% of the land forcing us to resow. The first low yields became available in early March, but demand was slow.”

“The market finally woke up last week as demand from north-European packagers in creased. Luckily the European trend triggered domestic demand as well. The superior organoleptic qualities of our product play an essential role and feedback is great once the produce becomes available via the channels the BIA consortium works with. Being part of the BIA consortium brings commercial as well as technical advantages. We are very proud of being among its founding members.”

Contacts:
Soc. Agricola BioAgnello Srl 
Contrada Graffetta, s.n.
97014 Ispica (RG) – Italy
Tel.: +39 0932799603
Fax: +39 0932798485
Email: nunzio_agnello@hotmail.it

Bia Soc. Consortile a r.l.
Bagnacavallo management office
Traversa San Gervasio 16
Tel.: +39 05451885361
Fax: +39 05451812041
Email: commerciale@biaarl.it

Gianluca Schiassi – Sales person
+39 335 6501764
Email: gianluca.schiassi@biaarl.it