"The weather has been rather good this year and there have been no major hailstorms in South Tyrol (province of Bolzano), which is why the quality of the Royal Gala summer apples, the harvest of which began a few days ago, is excellent." This is how Markus Tscholl, coordinator of Asta Frutta Alto Adige, describes the first days of the auction.
Prices are not as high as expected," he adds, "perhaps because there are still too many stocks of last year's apples and the new product is placed in a context where there are other apples."
On the other hand, the quality seems to be very good: "Yes, we are satisfied. Yields are high, in line with a normal year. The rains of the last few days and the drop in temperature have been beneficial. Harvesting has just begun and will continue for a few weeks, then the Delicious will follow."
Gala's customers are satisfied with the colour and size. "Our buyers are interested," says Tscholl, "and we're hoping that increased demand will enable us to raise prices in the next negotiations."
With a number of customers nearly as high as the number of producers (550 registered buyers and 760 producers), Asta Frutta Alto Adige represents a historical reality in the region for the sale of apples, since the first events took place in 1960. The total area cultivated by the 760 producers is over 900 hectares. The expected production is about 45,000 tons of apples.
For more information:
Fruit AuctionSouth Tyrol
Vilpiano (BZ),
Tel.: +39/0471 676511
Email: [email protected]
www.astafrutta.it