New data published by Ferrara-based research and marketing agency CSO has confirmed an anticipated 45 per cent decrease in the volume of Italy's main Italian pear variety, Abate Fetel, due to be produced this season.
The new forecast of approximately 208,000 tonnes reflects a significant further downturn in the size of this year's Abate Fetel output when compared with an earlier prediction of 279,000 tonnes, down 26 per cent year on year.
Although the 2011 Abate Fetel harvest was the largest on record at 378,000 tonnes, this year's diminished crop is reckoned to be the lowest since 1997.
Italy accounts for the vast majority of Europe's Abate Fetel production, with Greece, Romania and Slovenia the variety's only other producers within the EU.
CSO attributed the fall in Abate Fetel production, more than 80 per cent of which is grown in the region of Emilia-Romagna, to dry conditions during fruit growth, which reduced average sizing and therefore limited the volume of fruit available.
'In the face of this major drop in production, it is important to underline the good quality of the fruit both from an organoleptic and a taste point of view,' said a spokesperson for CSO.
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