APRICOT PRODUCTION IN ITALY: VALUE CHAIN IN THE DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Italy is one of the main EU markets for apricots. It is the leading country in terms of consumption (over 36% of total consumption) and production (approx. 30% of the total fresh fruit trade). Therefore, Italy is well-positioned in terms of import/ export of apricots. This strong trade activity takes on different aspects with respect to the domestic or international market, which means that a particular allocation of the profitability occurs along the value chain according to the different markets. In order to describe and quantify the value created within the different distribution contexts, the Emilia-Romagna region has been considered. This region, with about one-third of total domestic production, is Italy’s main apricot producer. The analysis was carried out in different steps. Firstly, the definition of the value chain, starting from the apricot growers and taking into consideration the operations, outbound logistics and the marketing and sales steps. Costs and revenues in every step of the value chain have been estimated. Consequently, it was possible to calculate the distribution of value created and estimate the incidence of the individual steps on the final retail price in the domestic and international markets.