South Italy: Agreement reached for the 2021 season

 After a long negotiation, ANICAV and the POs of the Central Southern Italy Basin have defined the Framework Agreement for the area for the management of the next tomato processing campaign.

With the signing of the Framework Agreement, the parties confirmed the supply chain's attention to ethical, environmental and social sustainability.

In particular with a view to protecting the territory, the POs have undertaken, also through the definition of more restrictive qualitative parameters, to guarantee an eco-sustainable collection and the delivery of a product as free of soil and stones as possible in order to meet the difficulties encountered over the years by processing companies in managing the soil, especially in the Sarno river basin.

The parties will also support and promote activities related to the recruitment of workers and the telematic management of the job offer and transport services implemented as part of the "Fi.Le. – Legal Sector”, financed from the PON Legality (Programma Operativo Nazionale Legalità) and whose area of intervention is the province of Foggia.

Finally, the Industry and the POs have undertaken to work together to find solutions aimed at recovering a climate of collaboration within the supply chain also through the relaunch of the inter-professional dialogue within the OI Central Southern Italy Basin which represents a fundamental development tool for the sector.

Without prejudice to the contractual autonomy of the individual companies in the signing of supply contracts, the parties, on the basis of a series of objective criteria, have awarded the farmers a surcharge of 10 euros for higher production costs, both for long and for round tomatoes, fully absorbing what was granted in the last campaign for the critical issues related to drought and the health emergency. The average reference prices applicable will be: € 105.00 / metric tonne for the round tomatoes and € 115.00 / metric tonne for the long tomatoes and a 40% increase for organic.

A very complex processing season is expected for the sector in Italy. Faced with a planned increase in production of 10-15%, it will be necessary to deal with the difficulties in supply of tinplate and with the consequent significant increase in the purchase cost of the boxes which, added to the further increases, in particular of other packaging and energy, as well as the raw material itself, will significantly weigh on the cost of finished products.

Source: ANICAV