Thanks to modern protected structures, Sicilian horticultural productions are now available for throughout the year. For its part, OP Albani has everything it takes to grow and harvest vegetables all year round, without interruption. This is thanks to the excellent management and the technical assistance provided by a staff of agronomists, who are also available to its producer members.
Giovanni Albani
Yellow plum tomatoes are among the products part of the programme. Contributing to this success is undoubtedly the variety cultivated, which is very good in terms of both production and ease of marketing.
Meeting market demand
"We needed to fill a market gap for a high-quality product," explains Giovanni Albani, commercial manager of the PO. "For us, the advantage of growing this tomato comes from having acquired the necessary skills, which make its production profitable. We have the best know-how to enhance the intrinsic characteristics of the variety, which also holds up well after being harvested, and is therefore suitable for export. So much so that, over the past three years, we have increased the areas dedicated to yellow plum tomatoes by five times, despite the product remaining a niche in the overall panorama of tomato production. Added together, these factors allow us to be one of the leading players for the Italian and foreign large-scale retail trade."
An exaggeratedly long and hot summer
"We are certainly among the few who can guarantee this product even in summer," Albani reveals, "which is no small thing. We have in fact been praised by our customers, to whom we supplied yellow plum tomatoes even during this last summer. Everyone knows it was a very difficult season because it was characterised by intense heat and prolonged drought. What is more, consumer appreciation for high-quality yellow plum tomatoes has increased over time in proportion to supplies, so we have adjusted production."
High prices? Added value is never achieved by chance
"The proof of the continued success of this product are the prices we continue to obtain at production. They exceed €4/kg, which is the amount we currently pay our producer members. We make no secret of our satisfaction with the economic return we are able to generate for our member companies, and we are equally happy for our business customers, who continue to be able to secure adequate supplies. This continuity entails a very high level of professional commitment on our part and, so far, we have never let our buyers down. Commercialisation is currently peaking, so quotations will certainly not always be this high, but we must bear in mind that the added value for the yellow plum tomatoes is justified by the fact that they are a highly specialised product."
For more information:
Albani O.P. Società Cooperativa Agricola
Registered office: Via Firenze 1/d
Head office: Via pozzo bollente 126
97019 Vittoria (RG) - Italy
+393460892271
[email protected]
www.albaniop.it