Goodbye to Italian flowers, with + 95% of costs for plants and seeds, it is red alert for nurseries overwhelmed by energy increases that affect the entire supply chain, from fertilizers to packaging, from the plastic of the jars to the paper of the packaging up to diesel oil for heating greenhouses.
Coldiretti notes this on Crea data on the occasion of Flormart, the fair that from today in Padua turns the spotlight on a sector of excellence of Made in Italy that is worth 2.5 billion euros and guarantees 200 thousand jobs put at risk by the energy crisis .
Horticultural companies - highlights Coldiretti Padua - are facing cost increases: + 250% for fertilizers, + 110% for diesel, + 15% for plant protection products against parasites, + 45% for rental services.
But the increases also affect packaging from plastic for flower pots (+ 72%) to glass (+ 40%) to paper (+ 31%) not to mention that transport costs have also exploded.
Horticulture - states Coldiretti - is a strategic sector for the country with 30 thousand hectares of land cultivated by 21,500 companies involved in the production of plants and flowers in pots (14 thousand) and those of transplanting seedlings (7,500) put under pressure by imports from foreign countries grew by + 59% in the first six months of 2022, with over 2/3 (71%) represented by arrivals from Holland.
Between January and June of this year - points out Coldiretti - imports of plants and flowers reached almost 452 million euros, covering 77% of the value recorded throughout 2021 in six months. In practice, 1 product out of 5 comes from abroad. ".
Among the proposals of Coldiretti, there is the release of 1.2 billion for the supply chain contracts already allocated in the NRP and the encouragement of restructuring and renegotiation of the debt of agricultural companies.
Now there is expectation for the provision, transmitted by the Ministry of Agriculture to the State-Regions Conference, under discussion on September 28, which provides for contribution measures for horticultural companies that have incurred costs higher by at least 30 between March-August 2022 % compared to those incurred in the same period of 2021, for the management of production activities, essentially carried out in greenhouses, for the purchase of electricity, methane gas, LPG, diesel and biomass used for combustion in the company.