It is a rather unusual season for table grapes, at least in the area of Mazzarrone, which, together with Canicattì, is the main centre of production of this type of grape in Sicily. Giuseppe Morreale, CEO of Naturè, a company specialising in the marketing of table grapes, explains why. "Unlike other years, when the harvest was nearing its end at this time, the Victoria campaign has lasted a month longer than usual and we won't finish until the end of August. All this has had an impact on marketing."
Giuseppe Morreale
In fact, the producer prices, which were initially set at 3 euros per kilo in May, did not allow a reasonable mark-up at the wholesale level," continues the expert, "and this has led to a reduction in profits for those who, like us, are mainly traders. The Black Magic variety fared slightly better, allowing a more satisfactory resale price. The price of Victoria is now around 0.50 euros per kilo at the production level, but this is a normal price trend given that we are at the end of the campaign and, above all, given the abundance of product recorded throughout the early season."
Alè is the new line of high quality grapes for retailers in Romania and Poland
What is new for us in 2024 is the introduction of a new product line that we have called Alè,' says the CEO. It will be about the same varieties as Italy and Red Globe, but with an extra gear in terms of quality. The need arose from requests and new collaborations with some retail chains in Romania and Poland. There was a need to design and create a special line with its own packaging that would be immediately recognisable and identifiable as a product with high quality standards."
"And while the early ripening campaign is still ongoing, we have already started with the first releases of the medium-late Italia and Red Globe varieties," explains Morreale. "The first batches of Italia grapes have been sold at 0.60/0.70 euro/kg, while the red varieties are being sold at an additional 0.10/0.15 euro/kg. We hope to see a slight increase in production prices later in the season, as happened last year in October/November, when seeded grapes reached up to 1.50 euros per kilo."
Despite his young age (he started at 20), Morreale's career has spanned 20 years. He owes his success to his intuition in entering the Eastern European markets at a time when few people were betting on these destinations. Today, Giuseppe Morreale's Naturé has a solid reputation in the Timisoara and Craiova markets, as well as in Bucharest, where the company has its own distribution platform. In the first years, the quantities marketed did not exceed 900 tons per year; today, the quantities are more than 6,000 tons. Meanwhile, the company's activities have expanded far beyond Romania to include Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Montenegro and Albania.
For more information: 
Giuseppe Morreale
Naturè Srl
Tel.: +39 334 9153935
Email: [email protected]
www.naturesrl.net