Italy uses 8% of tomato fields to grow organic
In order to support the significant growth that the “organic” products sector continues to record, the ANICAV, Italy’s National Association of Manufacturers of Canned Fruit and Vegetable Products, announced early June that it is setting up a division dedicated to products made from organically grown tomatoes.
The coordination of the division was entrusted to Alessandro Squeri (Steriltom Srl), ANICAV adviser and President of the group of young entrepreneurs of Federalimentare, and to Carmine Alfano (Coppola Spa), ANICAV adviser and vice-president of Confindustria Salerno.
In 2019, the turnover generated in Italy by organic tomatoes amounted to around EUR 250 million. In this country, the production of organic tomatoes for processing increased by more than 6%, with just under 5 000 hectares under cultivation, covering 8% of the total area dedicated to processing tomatoes.
Consumption has also increased, both on the domestic market and abroad: in Italy. In the last three years, volume growth has been around 15%, with an increase in value of more than 20%, demonstrating the growing interest of consumers for this type of product. In 2019, organic food products generated 4.7% of sales in retail stores of all sizes; for the tomato products segment specifically, this proportion was 6.4%.
Alessandro Squeri explained that “with this division dedicated to organic tomatoes, the ANICAV wants to give more strength, in terms of representation, to the many member companies that devote part of their production to the organic segment, which is growing constantly, with significant results both in terms of production and value.”
Source: Tomato News
