Major disruption to Italy's road network, which caused by truck driver strike action in protest against government austerity measures, is continuing to cause headaches for fresh produce suppliers and distributors across the country.
'From Sicily to the north it is still difficult to move and even in Puglia products are being left in the field,' explained Roberto della Casa, a leading academic with a specialist knowledge of the horticultural sector.
Salvo Laudani of Sicilian citrus company Oranfrizer told Eurofruit: 'The damage is enormous. We estimate that the damage done to companies in the Sicilian fresh produce sector by the strike is worth at least €300m.'
Citrus, vegetables and other horticultural products have been worst hit by the blockades, Laudani confirmed.
'Those items which were ready to be harvested have been completely lost,' he commented. 'We've also lost many working days because there we haven't been using workers to harvest and process fruit and vegetables.
Since the majority of such employees are seasonal workers, the loss of earnings is highly significant.
'For our company, meanwhile, the loss of sales is about €2m,' Laudani added.
Another Sicilian citrus exporter confirmed that 10 days of strike action had been extremely disruptive for its commercial operation: 'The strike has caused us a lot of problems. We cannot ship to Italy or abroad.'
The exporter added: 'We haven't had to discard any product because we only harvest when we need to pack the fruit, but we have lost sales.'
Some respite
However, it would appear not every part of the Italian fresh produce network has been affected so badly.
'In Turin, things aren't improving and the market is paraylsed, but in Milan everything seems normal,' reported Della Casa.
Companies shipping produce to Russia from Bologna Wholesale Market, which in the past year has developed strong ties with a number of Russian buyers looking to source direct from Italy, said they had experienced less disruption as a result of the strikes.
'The situation as regards distribution in the centre-north is very varied and it seems dificult to identify a trend,' Della Casa noted.
He said he had spoken to a leading buyer at Despar, Fabio Spina, who had informed him that there were still serious problems in the supply of apples, pears and all continental products to stores in the north of Italy.
Concerns remained also over the potential impact on citrus lines supplied from the south to stores in the north.
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