The Italian fresh produce sector's balance of trade deteriorated during March and April, according to new figures published by import-export organisation Fruit Imprese.
Following a poor start to the year during January and February, the group revealed Italy's fresh fruit and vegetable trade deficit had widened to 52.9 per cent for January-April, compared with 36.6 per cent at the end of February.
The difference between exported and imported volumes increased to 141.7 per cent in favour of imports by the end of April, from 72.7 per cent during the first two months of 2009.
Fresh fruit and vegetable export volumes from Italy fell by 8.7 per cent to 1.17m tonnes during the first four months of this year, said the group, down from 1.28m tonnes in the same period of 2008.
In value terms, the country's fresh produce exports during January-April also fell on the year-earlier period, down 8 per cent from €1.23m to €1.13m.
Citrus exports suffered in particular, said Fruit Imprese, which revealed a 46.4 per cent decrease in the volume of citrus sold to export markets. Sales of exported citrus fell 42.1 per cent year-on-year during the four-month period.
Exports of dried fruit also fared badly, with traded volume and value slipping by 18 per cent and 24.8 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the volume of fresh fruit and vegetables imported into Italy during the same four-month period increased by 14.6 per cent compared with the previous year, with the sales value rising by 14.1 per cent.
According to Fruit Imprese president Luigi Peviani, the results were to be expected given the 'devastating effects' of the economic crisis in the markets of eastern Europe.
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