Exotic fruit sees slight recovery in Italian market

Exotic fruit is the segment that probably suffered the most during the pandemic. While demand has fortunately increased in recent months, it is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels. Avocados and organic bananas are regaining ground, however.
Fri 24/06/2022 by Gabriele Orsi
Cristina Bambini, Dole Italia's marketing manager for Italy
Paolo Zobec, owner of Dream Fruit
Brothers Paolo and Alessandro Dal Bello, owners of SIFE Dal Bello

The avocado is to be the star of the Tropical Fruit Congress, the only European congress dedicated to tropical fruit. The event’s third edition is scheduled for May 6 at the Rimini Expo Centre, as part of Macfrut 2022. All major Italian retailers see very big potential for growth in the tropical fruit category. In 2020, sales of avocado rose by 67%, driven by strong demand (Osservatorio Immagino). Italians consumed about 24,000 tons in 2020, and the volume is growing by 20% per year, as part of an overall trend that saw the volume of tropical fruit consumed increase by 45-50% over 2017-2020.

EFD178_MARK_ITALY_tropical_ITWS_LEV1_SIFE_Dal_Bello_brothers.jpghttps://reussir-dam.swyp.fr/permalink/v1/2/240164/thumbnail/produce_ITALIATROPICALLEADERS_SIFE_DalBellobrothers_GO.jpg.jpg?token=XvDyu5NLUeY9M8mh8dLmSoznYZhmdXctZbBBg5zzezqgjTkyWuGNAg1m51PciVVQ” style=”” swyp_id=”LQ28744513C” title=”EFD178_MARK_ITALY_tropical_ITWS_LEV1_SIFE_Dal_Bello_brothers.jpgSIFE Dal Bello presents Hass Pinkerton avocado

SIFE Dal Bello has launched the new Hass Pinkerton avocado and reports an exceptional season for the import and export of bananas. “The news for this year is that we have started to import Hass Pinkerton avocado from Colombia, Israel and Peru, which is proving a great success on the market. At the same time, we are resuming our imports of packaged bananas from Costa Rica, which had been blocked for a while due to the increasing logistics costs. We now see an overabundance of products from all sources, which is leading to blockages at ports. Costa Rican bananas are the sweetest in the world, and for the same cost, they guarantee better quality than those of other origins,” said owners Paolo and Alessandro Dal Bello.

EFD178_MARK_ITALY_tropical_ITWS_LEV1_Dole_Cristina_Bambini.jpghttps://reussir-dam.swyp.fr/permalink/v1/2/240165/thumbnail/produce_ITALIATROPICALLEADERS_Dole_CristinaBambini_GO.jpg.jpg?token=VOcB5umXMQdLABMlMqDdstSkANqOVCekfqqoyG4iPwGlrRxtUYuJesoGZpAqc0Ky” style=”” swyp_id=”LQ28744521C” title=”EFD178_MARK_ITALY_tropical_ITWS_LEV1_Dole_Cristina_Bambini.jpgDole Italy launches new promotion campaign

Dole Italia has launched a new communication campaign titled “Sunshine even when it’s not there”, with the aim of promoting its imported quality fruit. ​​​​​​The sun, which is also part of our logo, is the star of this new campaign as it represents energy. Our goal is to reposition our fruit as everyday consumer products that are no longer considered for exceptional occasions. We highlight four situations in which consumers can turn from negative to positive energy,” said Cristina Bambini, marketing manager for Italy. The new campaign started in autumn 2021 in the main communication channels and will feature intense promotional activities at the points of sale of the main Dole products, such as pineapple, banana, mango, papaya and bananito.

EFD178_MARK_ITALY_tropical_ITWS_LEV1_Dream_Fruit_Davide_Zobec.jpghttps://reussir-dam.swyp.fr/permalink/v1/2/240166/thumbnail/produce_ITALIATROPICALLEADERS_DreamFruit_DavideZobec_GO.jpg.jpg?token=W6SMA6V2oOM4QZnza2G31vGSCxj9vqVuY7AsHuJKw1Owal7G3DaUvHx9iimdtpyC” style=”” swyp_id=”LQ28744527C” title=”EFD178_MARK_ITALY_tropical_ITWS_LEV1_Dream_Fruit_Davide_Zobec.jpgDream Fruit – pineapples at their perfect point of ripeness

Dream Fruit has established itself as one of the main importers of pineapples on the Italian market by guaranteeing products of exceptional quality, such as its plant-ripened pineapples. “We specialise in importing pineapples, mainly from Costa Rica, since this country guarantees quality and continuity in production and allows year-round availability. We import both by sea and by air. Thanks to a special type of packaging, the pineapple sent by sea arrives in very similar quality conditions to those sent by air,” said owner Paolo Zobec. As plant-ripened pineapples take over from unripe fruits, Dream Fruit directs its imports largely to the Italian market, as well as markets such as France, Switzerland, Slovenia and Croatia. Dream Fruit is also strongly committed to the emerging de-stalked pineapple sector.

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