The evolution of persimmon cultivation in Italy

Italy has been leading the European persimmon production along the last century, with a peak of harvested fruits of about 250,000 t in the years 1940-1945. However, the Italian contribution to the production of persimmons in the world and in Europe has been significantly decreasing over the last 60 years. In 1970 the Italian production (60,000 t) represented 6% of world production (~1,000,000 t), while in 2019 Italy contributed just over 1% to it, and only 8.7% to the European production, at present dominated by Spanish production which has reached 492,000 t. The Italian National Statistical Institute reports for year 2020 a total area of 2,785 ha cultivated with persimmon for a total of 48,114 t of harvested fruits. The Italian regions with productions exceeding 100 t of fruits are Calabria (120 t), Friuli (195 t), Tuscany (286 t), Lombardy (500 t), Sicily (3,367 t), Veneto (3,374 t), Emilia-Romagna (21,032 t) and Campania (21,119 t). These figures indicate an increase of the production of persimmon fruits in the southern part of the country. Italy currently imports about 27,000 t, mainly from Spain and to a lesser extent from Israel, and exports about 5,500 t. Among the possible causes that lead to the reduction of the Italian supply of persimmon it is worth mentioning the appearance in the Italian and European market of ‘Rojo Brillante’ fruits from Spain and the contraction of consumer demand for ‘Kaki Tipo’ fruits.