Italy: Fresh Deciduous Fruit Annual
With approximately 1.7 million metric tons (MMT), Italy provides approximately 19 percent of the EU- 28 apple production. Italy’s marketing year (MY) 2017/18 apple production is forecast to drop significantly (-23 percent) from the previous campaign due to the frost that occurred during flowering at the end of April. Italy is the largest EU-28 pear producer. Its MY 2017/18 pear production is forecast at 719,000 MT, a 5 percent increase from the previous campaign (681,000 MT), but in line with the 2014-2016 yearly average. Italy is also the leading table grape producer in the EU-28, followed by Greece and Spain. Its MY 2017/18 table grape production is forecast to drop by 25 percent due to heavy rainfall in autumn. Fruit quality is expected to be excellent with higher sugar content due to the summer drought.
