Vegetable prices are also impacted by the current global economy trend

Thanks to its particular pedoclimatic conditions, the coastal area in the south of Sicily, Italy, is one of the most fertile areas in Europe.

In this area, the company CVF srl, owned by Biagio Vitale, is located. They are growing vegetables on 25 hectares in greenhouse structures of the latest generation and advanced technology, which guarantee yields and qualitative performance of top-quality products.

"In this company, nothing is left to chance and it could not be otherwise because we only work on the basis of the programming that we draw up annually, with the help of our business partners. Thanks to our reliability, we sell both nationally and abroad," explains the administrator of CVF Srl.

CVF can also count on a recently constructed warehouse of 1400 square meters, built according to the most advanced standards of the sector. The warehouse is equipped with 3 lines of processing and selection of goods for the most varied packaging needs, coming from CVF's own production, but also from trusted suppliers.

CVF is present in markets and supermarkets with three product lines: Gold (extra), Blu line and Economica. The turnover is distributed as follows: 70% large-scale retail trade in Italy, 20% agri-food markets in Italy and 10% markets in Europe.

The production of tomatoes is divided into various segments: mini plum, available for 12 months and packaged in 500 gr - 1 kg trays; datterino, available for 12 months and packaged in 250 gr - 300 gr - 500 gr trays; ciliegino available for 12 months and packaged in 500 gr - 1 kg trays. The production of eggplant, instead, involves the production of the tonda variety, available from September to July; lunga available 12 months; viola available 12 months; mini eggplant, available from September to June. Finally, bell pepper is available from October to May. The company also produces courgettes, cucumbers and prickly pears, as well as a wide range of products that can be sold all over Europe, since they are produced by specialized suppliers and meet the strict CVF standards.

"Unfortunately, the energy crisis, the increase in fuel prices, the price of technical means for agriculture and raw materials, combined with an international geopolitical context of uncertainty, are reducing profit margins. Prices which were very decent until 15 days ago, are now sloping down; we have lost almost one euro per kg on a good part of the greenhouse vegetables. It is hard to even think about making investments for the future and the lack of availability of manpower is becoming a very serious problem. We hope that this difficult period will soon be over for everyone," concluded Vitale.