According to figures released by the Italian statistical office and reported by Italiafruit News, fresh fruit and vegetable exports from Italy fell by 7.2 per cent to 2.23m tonnes during the first eight months of 2009.
In the same period, fresh produce imports into the country rose 12 per cent to 2.24m tonnes, the agency revealed.
As a result, the balance of Italy's fresh fruit and vegetable trade went into the red by 16,000 tonnes between the start of January and the end of August.
Compared with last year, when exports exceeded imports by some 396,000 tonnes during the same period, the result confirms 2009 has been a difficult year for a number of major Italian exports, particularly vegetables and stonefruit.
In terms of value, exports fell by 14.7 per cent to €1.97bn during the eight-month period, while import sales were up 8 per cent to €1.74bn.
The year-on-year drop in the balance of payments was 67.4 per cent, or €226.3m.
For fruit, exports were down 2.5 per cent to 1.56m tonnes, with turnover falling 20.5 per cent to €1.3bn.
Vegetable exports, meanwhile, decreased 16.6 per cent to 664,896 tonnes, although export sales were more or less stable at just over €665.1m.
On the import side, the volume of foreign fruit brought into Italy rose 11.1 per cent to 1.39m tonnes and were worth 4.4 per cent more at €1.25bn.
Imported vegetable volumes increased 13.5 per cent to 852,244 and sales were 18.3 per cent higher at €491.6m.
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