Italian agricultural organisation Confagricoltura and the Italian Chamber of Commerce have organised a four-day buyers mission focusing on the southern region of Calabria, offering representatives of German retail and foodservice companies the chance to visit fruit and vegetable producers in the area.
The aim of the mission, according to the organisers, is to help build up trust in the region's suppliers among Germany's leading fresh produce buyers.
Exports of Calabrian fresh fruit and vegetables to the German market have been in steady decline during recent years, falling in both value and volume terms during the period 2006-2009.
However, the first two months of 2010 saw a 10 per cent recovery in the volume of fresh vegetables German buyers imported from the region, pushing sales up by 6 per cent year-on-year, with lettuce, chicory, cabbage and cauliflower among the products performing especially well.
For fruit, meanwhile, the picture has also shown a notable improvement at the start of the year: volumes were up 16 per cent and sales were up 7 per cent in January-February 2010 compared with the same period of 2009.
However, citrus has continued its recent slump, with volume and sales down 60 per cent and 54 per cent respectively year-on-year.
'There are some interesting signs of recovery,' commented a spokespersonf ro Confagricoltura, 'but it is important to keep alive the relationship with decision-making buyers by creating new opportunities for them to get to know out products, our production and handling processes, their link with the region and the level of quality that suppliers of Made in Italy foods can offer.'
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