Coldiretti, "Fruit price dictated by 4 monopolists"

The monopoly of four collection hubs influences the Piedmontese fruit market.

The 7950 producers of peaches, apples, pears and kiwis from the third fruit producing region of Italy are strangled by the conferment and price rules established by a few collection monopolists, who in turn sell to the large-scale retail trade.
The complaint came from Roberto Moncalvo, president of Coldiretti Piemonte, partner of the Food Journalism Festival, during the focus Fruit and legality - Operation truth which was held on June 28 in Turin.
A phenomenon that is not only Piedmontese but national.
Finger pointing to POs, Producer Organizations, which control the fruit market. "We are ruining a container that was born at the European level with a noble purpose that is to help the development of fruit and vegetable production in the territories which, unfortunately, today is managed not by producers but by those who decide the cost of the product for them . The POs are Producers' Organizations that are governed not by the many small associated farms - which are often merged under a single cooperative that counts as a single entity, but by four companies that tend to "sign" by controlling the fruit market. These OPs in Piedmont hold 81% of the value of fruit production and decide if, how much and when they will pay for that product. Unfortunately many producers, when asked about when their credits will be paid - a balance that often occurs even after 300 days from the harvest - are told "that at that moment it is not really possible but that we can agree". It therefore triggers incorrect behavior that enriches the family assets of some individuals to the detriment of many farmers. The reputation of a serious sector that employs 30.000 people cannot be ruined ”.