One of Italy’s largest topfruit suppliers has estimated that last weekend’s massive hailstorm in the north of the country caused damage to the country’s pear crop amounting to more than €40m.
OI Pera, an interprofessional organisation based in Ferrara, indicated that around 39,000 tonnes of pears had been lost as a result of the storm, with the most common variety Abate Fetel – Italy’s flagship pear on the international market – bearing the brunt of the damage.
“At that moment, fortunately a number of varieties had already been harvested and the damages were therefore focused in particular on Abate, of which around 35 per cent had been harvested, and Kaiser, although that was at a more advanced stage of harvesting,” explained OI Pera president Gianni Amidei.
“Based on information from technicians [belonging to] OI Pera’s membership structure, the loss is estimated at 39,000 tonnes, which means 13 per cent of the Abate and Kaiser production in Emilia-Romagna.”
The storm struck especially hard between Ferrara and Modena on 5 September and was reportedly at its strongest to the north of Modena itself and towards the province’s upper border with Mantua.
A large swathe of Ferrara province was also hit, from the Alto Ferrarese to the border with Modena and including various locations in the east of the province.
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