New figures published by Italian statistics agency Ismea have revealed that sales of ready-to-use vegetables achieved considerable growth during 2008, with volumes rising 16.7 per cent and sales up 7.5 per cent compared with the previous 12 months.
However, sales of fresh-cut vegetables were down slightly, falling 6.5 per cent in value terms.
During the course of last year, Italian consumers purchased just 0.8 per cent more fresh vegetables, but spent 2.6 per cent more in doing so, whereas sales of frozen vegetables were up 1.6 per cent year-on-year, despite a 0.4 per cent fall in the overall value of sales in the category.
For fresh fruit, meanwhile, volumes sold remained more or less stable (+1.3 per cent, for an 8 per cent rise in value) against the 2007 figure, even taking into account a 4.9 per cent downturn in the amount of citrus bought.
» Ismea food sales data for 2008
