"While some territories do not produce enough even at local level, others feed tables all over Europe and beyond." This is how Giuseppe Morreale, a Sicilian trader who owns Naturé, faces his days. The company operates mostly in central and eastern Europe and beyond, where it mainly exports table grapes in the summer and table tomatoes in winter.
Giuseppe Morreale (Click here for the photo gallery)
"Being lucky enough to live and work in Vittoria (RG), the production capital in Sicily boasting unique soil and weather conditions and producing high-quality fruit and vegetables appreciated by consumers all over the old continent, constitutes a true advantage. In particular, we work between Vittoria (RG) and Mazzarrone (CT), areas specializing in the production of tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers, cucumbers, and table grapes. It is here that we interpret the essence of the best agricultural productions to export them to the main European markets, especially in the east."
Cherry tomatoes from Vittoria (Click here for the photo gallery)
Volumes and markets
Naturé currently commercializes around 6,000 tons of produce a year. The main destinations are Romania (especially Bucharest, Timisoara and Craiova), Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia. Montenegro and Albania.
Morreale showing a red grape. While he deals mostly with tomatoes in winter, the focus shifts to table grapes in the summer. (Click here for the photo gallery)
"Our main destination is Bucharest. The transfer lasts two to three days by articulated truck. The produce reaches the Naturé company platform, where it is processed, redistributed, and sent to other destinations or to local clients. While packaging options can vary extensively for the general market, Romanian big retail chains require produce in 5 kg crates and 500 g trays. We can anyway meet all kinds of specific requests."
"We harvest right from the start of the Sicilian vegetable season. The varieties and segments are those typical of our area. The most valuable product is tomatoes, from small cherry and plum ones to midi plum, bunch, beefsteak, and oblong ones. Eggplants are available as oblong, streaked, purple, and round. Zucchini are dark green, light green, and streaked, but yellow ones are available upon request. Bell peppers are oblong, horn, and friggitello. Cucumbers are of the typical Sicilian type."
Processing
"Processing is partly carried out directly at the producer companies, which follow Naturé indications when it comes to size and type. In other cases, such as table grapes, it is carried out in the vineyards."
The task of Giuseppe Morreale and his collaborators is to check the quality of the produce, and every single batch undergoes a visual check and an assessment of its compliance with rules on residues. Only compliant produce is prepared and loaded onto trucks.
"We always thank our reliable suppliers for their great quality, especially Box 29 (Il Quadrifoglio) at the Vittoria fresh produce market, managed by a professional such as Gino Puccia."
Morreale also mentioned some of the current quotations in Vittoria: cherry tomatoes €1.50 - 1.80/kg, plum tomatoes €1.30/kg, smooth round bunch tomatoes €1.40 -1.80/kg. Eggplants: round €1.20- 1.50/kg, purple €1.80/kg, streaked €1.80/kg, oblong €1.70/kg. Bell peppers: yellow €2.40/kg, red €2.40/kg, friggitello €2.50/kg. Cucumbers €1.40/kg. Zucchini €2.50/kg.
"Red goods are currently affected by a sort of slowness in trade, unlike all other products." When asked about the effects of the "Red Sea affair" that sees the involvement of the US, Great Britain, and their counterpart with the Yemen Houthi at the center, the trader reports not feeling "any difference when it comes to the prices of the international logistics we employ."
Winds of war and... of speculation?
"Of course, we can expect anything, considering how the blockage of the Suez Canal went down, from increases in the price of energy to those of the raw materials needed in agriculture. We hope that any speculators and their vile actions that ruin the economies worldwide will be stopped immediately."
For more information:
Giuseppe Morreale
Naturè Srl
Tel.: +39 334 9153935
[email protected]