Figures just released by Italian trade association Fruit Imprese have revealed that the country's fresh fruit and vegetable exports continued to grow during the first five months of 2010.
The balance of the country's fresh produce sales stood at €435m for the five-month period, up 225.3 per cent on the year-earlier result.
Italy exported a total of 1.7m tonnes of fruit and vegetables worth €600m (up 18.7 per cent) between January and May, 22.2 per cent more than in the same period of 2009.
In volume terms, export flows increased across a range of product categories, according to Fruit Imprese.
Of particular significance were: an increase in citrus shipments, which rose 129.3 per cent; a 41.6 per cent increase in dried fruit exports; and a 24.5 per cent upturn in sales of vegetables to foreign clients.
The improvement was more modest for fresh fruit, with a 9.4 per cent rise in shipped volumes.
Results were positive results for all categories, in fact, except for tropical fruit, which saw an 11.3 per cent fall in sales.
On the imports side, things were far less rosy, with volume (-7.9 per cent) and value (-4.2 per cent) both down on the previous period.
Vegetable import volumes were up 1.2 per cent, while dried fruit imports increased by 37.7 per cent.
Heading in the opposite direction were citrus (-55.2 per cent), fresh fruit (-18.5 per cent) and tropical fruit (-1 per cent).
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