Figures published by the Italian government agency Istat suggest the country exported a total of 1.28m tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables during the first four months of 2008, up 7.5 per cent on the same period of 2007.

Imports of fresh produce, meanwhile, rose by 2.5 per cent, to 1.08m tonnes.

In value terms, exports were 22.7 per cent higher at €1.21bn, while import sales were worth €812m, 3.7 per cent more than in the year-earlier period.

Italy's balance of sales for the fresh produce sector increased 48.6 per cent to 192,000 tonnes and by 95.4 per cent to €400m.