Italian peach and nectarine production is set to increase in marketing year 2017/18, driven by greater volumes from the south of the country.
That is the verdict of a new US Department of Agriculture (USDA) GAIN report, which has pegged the 2017/18 crop at 1.36m tonnes, growth of 8 per cent year-on-year.
According to the study, peach volumes in the south are up 15 per cent with nectarines climbing 19 per cent, while northern volumes are down 3 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.
Exports were down slightly to 248,000 tonnes in 2017, Istat reported, while peach and nectarine imports came to 95,000 tonnes.
The leading export markets for Italian peaches and nectarines are Germany, Denmark, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and the UK.
For cherries, the USDA's preliminary forecast was for Italy to produce 105,000 tonnes, up from 94,888 tonnes in 2016/17.
Exports are set to rise from 5,111 tonnes to 7,000 tonnes, although this is still well down on the 10,000 tonnes Italy exported in 2015.
