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News

Italy: uncertainty from north to south

18/09/2024 - François-Xavier Branthôme - Lire en français

According to the CEO of the Mutti Group, an industry leader: "The season is difficult and, from north to south, the harvest outcome is uncertain. Production targets are jeopardized by the impact of climate change."

"The 2024 tomato harvest season is really tough, especially in northern Italy, where we don't think production targets will be met. But of course, we first need to complete processing operations before we can be certain." In an interview with the Italian press in the last days of August, Francesco Mutti, CEO of the eponymous Parmesan group, Europe's leading producer of tomato products, took stock of the situation of the tomato harvest in Italy.

As of August 26, "we are in the heart of the harvest season. This harvest is unfolding in very different ways from the north to the south of Italy. As far as the South is concerned, we're talking about a situation of quantitative abundance, but with two concerns. Firstly, tomatoes are ripening very early, so there are doubts as to whether the whole crop can be processed over time. Secondly, water shortages have affected and are still affecting the fields. If not dealt with as a matter of great urgency, this could become a major problem in the next few years and lead to a significant economic weakening of one of the pillars of our southern Italian economy," warned the processor.

And there is no shortage of problems in the North either. "As far as the North is concerned, it's a very slow season, since we're currently about halfway to our target, and all the operators are undeniably well behind schedule. This is the consequence of a climatic episode that affected the largest growing areas, in particular the western part of the Po Valley, which was hit by truly exceptional rainfall throughout May and into early June, with totals of rain that exceeded all norms and severely stressed the plants, reducing their production capacity and even delaying ripening. We're still worried about the outcome of the harvest in the North, and we're proceeding cautiously, one day at a time," he reiterated.

As of August 26, according to Francesco Mutti, the costs of the harvest season "are unfortunately much higher than we expected. We now have an idea of the surface areas that have been planted and the yields per hectare, which are below the average of recent years, but we still don't know how the season will end."

The difficulties of this harvest season should not, however, have any effect on consumer prices for end-products such as purees and peeled tomatoes. "Climatic hazards obviously have an impact on tomato production in general. For the time being, we do not expect any significant jumps in end-product prices, since we have suffered several years of high inflation. In the final count, there could be a variation, but nothing excessive," emphasized Mutti.

But in addition to climate change, there is another threat to the "made in Italy" tomato. "Over the last two years, China has inexplicably decided to implement a policy of very significant overproduction of tomatoes, which I would definitely define as dumping, going far beyond its production needs, both in terms of sales capacity and global processing requirements. And this with the very clear and declared objective of becoming the world's leading operator. It's worth remembering that the United States have effectively banned Chinese tomato products from entering their territory. Europe could also move in this direction and, if we don't want to resort to more extreme measures, we should still implement a series of measures to protect first and foremost the consumer, but also our industries, which are extremely important as they affect hundreds of thousands of people", explained the company's chief executive.

"We must remember that tomatoes are Italy's leading food export, even ahead of pasta. What would these protective measures look like? Firstly, they would involve clearly indicating the origin of the raw material on the label. Consumers need to know whether a product is 100% 'Made in Italy', whether it is a European product and therefore compliant with controls as is generally the case in Europe, or whether, on the contrary, it is a product of non-European origin. This must be immediately visible to the consumer. I have just returned from a trip to Germany where I found many products that contained non-European tomatoes. Given the price differences, it was inevitably a Chinese product, but extremely difficult for consumers to identify."

"The second measure, already enshrined in Italian legislation, would be that purées, one of the figureheads of Made in Italy products, cannot be produced by diluting concentrated tomato paste, as is the case in other countries where 'passata' are often produced from Chinese products. A concerted approach is needed at European level, with a step forward in terms of regulations, so that what we manage to guarantee for consumers – i.e. the substantial absence of Chinese products on our shelves – can be maintained as far as possible, to at least implement systematically the features of absolute transparency that our sector has always wanted to put forward," he added.

As far as the company's track record is concerned, the Mutti Group closed 2023 with total sales of EUR 665 million, recording growth of 18% on the previous year. A new industrial investment program for the five-year period 2024-2028, worth EUR 100 million, has also been announced. Mutti pointed out that "we are now a fast-growing company, pursuing a course of investment and consolidation of our leadership throughout Europe. And our leading position at the national level continues to increase. The best thing is to see how Italian consumers are constantly able to recognize quality."

Sources: adnkronos.com, corriereortofrutticolo.it

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