2023 ends with the record value of Italian exports of fresh fruit and vegetables which grew by 9.1% compared to the result of the previous year.
According to Istat data, the exported value is 5.780 billion euros compared to just under 5.3 billion in 2022, in contrast with the exported quantities which fall by just under one percentage point, 0.9% with a figure of 3.483 million tons.
Imports are growing by double digits, recording +13.6% in volume and +15.7% in value; the trade balance is heavily affected, with the balance reducing to just over 543 million euros, down by 29.7% compared to the 2022 figure
. The deficit in quantities is very significant, if in 2022 we imported around 700 tonnes more than we exported, in 2023 the gap rises to over 500,000 tonnes marking a historic negative record.
Analyzing the individual sectors, we export more tubers, vegetables and legumes which achieve +8.7% in quantity and +18.4% in value, citrus fruits also do well with +9.9% in value and +19.3% in value.
Not the same for fresh fruit which is affected by the production crisis of pears and summer fruit and which sees exported volumes reduce by 7% despite an interesting volume of over 3 billion euros in value growing by 6.1%.
Exports of dried fruit are bad, losing 13.3% in value at almost constant quantities, while exports of tropical fruit are still lively, growing by over 20 points in both volume and value.
The President of Fruitimprese Marco Salvi underlines "the stability of the Italian system in international markets, despite a 2023 marked by the growth of production costs and the decline in the purchasing power of European families".
For the future, he adds, "international crises are of concern, in particular the blockade of the Red Sea".
While on the packaging front, "there is no good news coming from Brussels", because the compromise reached, concludes Salvi, "excludes plastic for the packaging of unprocessed fresh fruit and vegetables under 1.5kg in weight and dangerously leaves each State the possibility of deciding which products to exclude from the ban.
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