"The exports of carrots from the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna towards northern and eastern Europe have just ended, and the time has come to assess the work carried out between mid-May and early July," reports Francesca Barbieri, product manager at Zanarini srl.
"If we want to start with volumes, we can definitely say that they have more than tripled compared with 2023. The campaign started around May 15 with a market that was not easy to read, but which was immediately characterized by decreasing prices."
"Since the very beginning, Spain - our main competitor - started with prices at least 10 eurocents below the Italian ones. In addition, northern European countries still had produce in stock. We delayed the exports and the first countries to request produce were Sweden and Finland. The market unblocked only towards the end of May, so two weeks later than what we had hoped for."
"Belgium was mainly the first to ask for produce. The difficulty at this point - which was fully overcome thanks to the continuous exchange of information with our interlocutors and the analyses on the trend of market prices - was to plan client requests in a market that was slowing down. Prices lost 50% of their value over five weeks."
"It was not demand that was lacking from our point of view, as the difficulties were identifying the right positioning of the price and talking to producers, who had managed twice the price the previous year. After assessing the context, we identified the right path which enabled us to shift considerable volumes and prolong exports thanks to a good mix of quality and prices, also overlapping with the new northern European productions, which became available in early June."
"The key to overcome difficulties is the awareness of being all important links of a chain: all of us represent the lifeblood that keeps the chain alive. Clear, motivated, honest, ongoing and constant dialogue is essential. Now that the 2024 season is over, I would like to thank our interlocutors and cannot wait for the next season."
For more information:
Francesca Barbieri
Zanarini Srl – Sales office
+39 335 52 26 716
+39 051 82 61 64
[email protected]