Italy: Tomato export stop Turkey offered Sicilian tomatoes the opportunity to export to Eastern European countries

"All greenhouse crops suffered from the high temperatures in November and December 2022. Even now they are still feeling the effects of that abnormal heat. The plants are stressed, especially tomato plants," says Massimo Pavan, a long-time entrepreneur who divides his time between Sicily and the northern Italian Veneto. Massimo Pavan In the two months to which Pavan refers, the tomato harvest peaked sharply, causing the market to become unbalanced. The entire segment was dragged down in the market by plum tomatoes, which were the first to be affected by the heat. Moreover, encouraged by the good results of the past two years, many growers have chosen to plant this type of tomato. They did not take into account the possible consequences of overproduction. Very low prices and a lot of unsold product in the early winter was the result. "The situation of cherry tomatoes was different. Like all other tomatoes, that segment also suffered from the heat in those weeks, but the prices were ...