Italy, processing tomatoes: negotiations at a standstill in the northern region

 According to the ANICAV press release dated January 25, 2023, negotiations for fixing a framework agreement for the management of the next tomato processing campaign in Italy's northern production basin are at a standstill.

After intense negotiations with the agricultural side, industrial processors have declared their willingness to accept the POs' requests to review certain technical parameters.

Negotiations stalled on the definition of the average reference price, despite the willingness of processors to meet the economic requirements of the agricultural side with a proposal for an increase that – in addition to what has been granted in terms of technical parameters – would increase the average price for the 2022 season.
According to Bruna Saviotti, coordinator of the Territorial Committee for the Northern Basin sector of the ANICAV, "The increase that we have proposed with a great sense of responsibility, which leads to an increase in the average reference price of about 40% over a period of two years, is unprecedented in the history of the contractual management of processing tomatoes in our region, and amply covers the increase in costs incurred by agricultural parties in the last campaign, costs that are already showing significant decreases, while taking into account the contingent inflationary and financial situation, without neglecting the need to encourage the cultivation of tomatoes for processing."

ANICAV President Marco Serafini stated: "We hope that the POs will be able to review their positions, understand our reasons, in the interest of the sector, especially in such a complicated time as this, keeping in mind that all the sector's components must benefit in a balanced way for the system to work."

Some complementary data
The ANICAV, the National Industrial Association of Canned Vegetable Food Products, founded in Naples on February 5, 1945, is the largest representative association of tomato processing companies in the world in terms of the number of member companies and the volume of product processed. It includes 80 companies out of the 115 operating in Italy, which together process about 70% of all tomatoes processed in the country and almost all the peeled-tomatoes produced in the world, with a turnover in 2022 of EUR 4 billion (accounting for over 70% of the total turnover of the Italian tomato processing sector). About 60% of this production is exported to Europe (Germany, France, United Kingdom) as well as to other countries (USA, Japan, Australia), making the tomato an ambassador for "Made in Italy" excellence around the world.

Source: ANICAV, corriereortofrutticolo.it