Lockdown Extension Adds to Setbacks for Italian Producers

Summary

Extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duc­ers in Umbria, Italy are fac­ing eco­nomic hard­ship due to the extended lock­down of the food­ser­vice sec­tor, with the gov­ern­men­t’s deci­sion prompt­ing local insti­tu­tions to request more auton­omy in set­ting their own eco­nomic recov­ery plan. The region’s high-qual­ity PDO olive oil indus­try, which relies heav­ily on local cus­tomers, is strug­gling as small grow­ers are hit the hard­est, despite larger pro­duc­ers hav­ing national dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nels and export oper­a­tions.

Extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duc­ers in Italy are dis­ap­pointed by the news of the exten­sion of the food­ser­vice sec­tor lock­down.

Farmers in Umbria who pro­duce some of the most highly-regarded Central Italian olive oils saw their mar­kets dis­ap­pear when restau­rants and hotels were shut down on March 6. There is no relief in sight, as the Italian gov­ern­ment has now extended the food­ser­vice sec­tor’s lock­down for at least another month.

The exten­sion in an area that was mostly spared by the virus out­break that ran wild in north­ern Italy, has prompted local insti­tu­tions to call on the cen­tral gov­ern­ment to let their region set its own course of eco­nomic recov­ery from the effects of the pan­demic.

Growers of the high-qual­ity Umbrian PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) olive oil had been warn­ing of what was com­ing for weeks. They claim that the cen­tral gov­ern­men­t’s recov­ery strate­gies will not be enough to save the indus­try, which cul­ti­vates almost 7.5 mil­lion olive trees. There are 250 oil mills there, com­pris­ing a sig­nif­i­cant chunk of Umbria’s agri­cul­ture. It is the only Italian olive oil PDO extended to an entire region.

“As soon as restau­rants, farm­houses, pizze­rias and hotels were shut down, the local pro­duc­ers were hit. The halt to the food­ser­vice mar­ket­ing chan­nel strikes mostly the small local grow­ers, whose pro­duc­tions are mainly aimed to those cus­tomers,” said Albano Agabiti, head of the Umbria del­e­ga­tion of the farm­ers asso­ci­a­tion Coldiretti.

While the big farm­ers can rely on national dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nels and even nur­ture olive oil export oper­a­tions, most of Umbria’s small- and medium-sized com­pa­nies have always relied on local, trusted cus­tomers.

“The prob­lem I feel the most is that the gov­ern­ment keeps delay­ing the date when restau­rants will be able to open again,” regional agri­cul­tural prod­uct trans­porter Renzo Carnevaleof told Olive Oil Times. ​“We all know there is no magic wand to restore this busi­ness, but many restau­rants are ready to open with a new san­i­tary pol­icy. Many have already restruc­tured and just wait for the go-ahead.”

Donatella Tesei, Umbria region pres­i­dent, called the gov­ern­men­t’s deci­sion ​“ques­tion­able,” not­ing that many com­pa­nies and com­mer­cial asso­ci­a­tions had been prepar­ing to reopen on May 4 as pre­vi­ously promised.

“[The gov­ern­ment] decided that regions can not set their own course, not even to ease the lock­down mea­sures, not even in face of the spe­cific sit­u­a­tion of the epi­demic in their own ter­ri­to­ries,” she said.

Tesei said Umbria and other regions would be ask­ing the Italian gov­ern­ment for a ​“well-defined black and white recov­ery plan,” as well as sub­mit­ting their own ideas for an eco­nomic recov­ery time­line.

• Official state­ment of Donatella Tesei


• Coldiretti Umbria press release