"It is indeed a good commercial moment for fresh white onions from the Nocerino-Sarnese area. Demand is high and quotations are also satisfactory as we manage to obtain prices that are twice as high as those of spring onions, and three times higher than those of dried onions," reports Raffaele Rosa, director of GRG Srl, from San Marzano sul Sarno (Salerno).
"When it comes to spring onions, there is no demand for them on the Italian market, although the trend on the foreign market is much better, as we are receiving several orders, especially from France and Germany because the Egyptian product, which is the main competitor for the Italian product, is finished. At the moment, we are shipping 20% of fine spring onions and 80% of bulb onions to France, while we are shipping around 80-90% per cent of fine spring onions and the remainder of the bulb onions to Germany."
GRG's core business is the processing and marketing of fennel, spring onions, and fresh white onion heads. The latter are available from early February until early May. The company processes 10 tonnes of fresh white onions every day, i.e. approximately 1000 tonnes per season.
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"Fresh white onions from Nocerino-Sarnese are a niche product, but not in the classic sense of the term. They are not such not because there is little consumption, in fact, demand is high on both the Italian and foreign markets and from the H&R channel. It is rather the supply that is rather limited, because they are difficult to process. Not all companies in our area are adequately equipped for processing, so much so that there are only two of us that do it in the Nocerino-Sarnese area."
The produce is sold either in 500-gram tubs, which are destined exclusively for the Italian big retail trade, and loose for domestic and foreign markets, but also for Italian retailers.
"We have been including fresh white onions in our assortment for three years now, that is since we bought the machinery to process them."
For more information:
GRG Ortofrutta Srl
Z.I Taurana, Lot 25,
84010 San Marzano sul Sarno (SA) - Italy
+39 333 6427273
info@grgortofrutta.it
www.grgortofrutta.it