Durum wheat production will fall below 3.5 million tonnes this year (risking being remembered as the lowest in the last 10 years) due to the reduction in cultivated areas, caused by unfair competition from foreign products, and drought which hit the regions of Southern Italy. It is the first estimate one month after the start of threshing released by Coldiretti and Cai – Agricultural Consortiums of Italy on the occasion of the “Day in the field” initiative in San Lazzaro di Savena (Bologna), in the lands of the SIS – Società Italiana Sementi.
The cultivated areas for durum wheat have reduced by 11% compared to the previous year, falling below 1.2 million hectares – state Coldiretti and Cai – with peaks of 17% in the areas of Central and Southern Italy, where it comes from approximately 90% of the national harvest.
Unfair competition from abroad. It is the effect primarily of the collapse in prices caused precisely at the time of sowing by the invasion of foreign products. In 2023, almost 900 million kilos of Russian and Turkish wheat arrived, an invasion never recorded in the history of our country, according to the analysis of the Divulga Study Center. A veritable river of product which, added to that of Canadian wheat, which has now exceeded one billion kilos, has had an impact on the prices of national wheat.
Furthermore, as in the case of Canada, it is a cereal treated pre-harvest with glyphosate, a method prohibited in our country. Foreign competition – say Coldiretti and Cai – has been compounded by the effects of the climate with the drought which has reduced the production of durum wheat in Puglia with drops of between 20 and 30%, while in some areas of Sicily it even reaches – 70%.
Slight increase (+1.4%) for the areas cultivated with soft wheat, which stand at just over 600 thousand hectares, for an estimated production of around 3 million tonnes. 8% drop in land cultivated with barley, according to Coldiretti and Cai.
Precisely to cope with fluctuations in market prices and protect farmers, Consorzi Agrari d’Italia has implemented supply chain contracts and wheat futures, as well as important investments in research.
Supply chain contracts. For Cai, the supply chain contracts represent 12 different productions, of which 4 relating to wheat, promoted and developed with a view to valorising Italian production. Of the total products withdrawn from Italian Agricultural Consortia, wheat alone represents over 50% of the volume and is therefore the first product.
This is approximately 400 thousand tons of wheat, a quantity that undoubtedly identifies Cai as the leading player on the national market for this production. 25% of this wheat falls within supply chain contracts: a good signal but not enough for Cai’s ambitions which aims to extend this share to the benefit of farmers and product quality.
“In the last two years”, says Gianluca Lelli – CEO of Cai – “this strategy has paid off and despite the decline in production on a national scale, Cai records a +2% on the total volume withdrawn, with an increase precisely due to the increase in the Senatore Cappelli durum wheat supply chains. A sign that we are working well on indigenous supply chains, enhancing the work of the farmer and national productions. Precisely thanks to the supply chain agreements, Cai is able to guarantee a premium to the farmer which can reach – for durum wheat – up to 8% more than the market price”.
Wheat futures. The second element of advantage that Cai offers to companies is represented by futures on the price of wheat. “The farmer”, continues Lelli, “is one of the few entrepreneurs who, when he begins his production, does not know what the price of his product will be on the market. Cai tries to undermine this logic – unique in Italy – by establishing a priori what the price of collecting the product at the end of the campaign will be and thus guaranteeing the farmer a sales price on which he can calibrate his expectations and investments even with 2 years in advance and with a guaranteed minimum”.
With significant variations from year to year depending on the appreciation of futures, Cai was able to reach peaks of membership of up to 30% of the total withdrawal of soft wheat in some areas of the country: an indicator that the instrument has potential and which must be disseminated and promoted.
Finally, research: “Today we are in Idice in one of the SIS headquarters, an excellence in the seed sector and a leader in Italy and in the world in terms of research and experimentation. A possible answer to the problem of durum wheat production has emerged precisely from the test fields which are ending in recent days: as we have seen, the drought in Southern Italy has threatened the quantities produced to the point that a production loss of 20% is estimated compared to the average.
Well, just in recent days we have had positive feedback: the variety studied by SIS and called Superbo – which will be launched starting from next season – has proven to be particularly resistant to water stress, thus responding to one of the major critical issues due to climate change”, concludes Lelli.
About CAI – Italian Agricultural Consortiums
CAI is the first totally integrated national entity that combines the expertise and ability to valorise products in the strategic supply chains of the first Italian agro-industrial group, which reports to BFSPA, with the territorial networks of the consortia involved. Thanks to this project, farmers become protagonists of a new development model, based on innovation and sustainability.
The project is based on a network that produces over 1.2 billion in annual revenues and has more than 20 thousand members, acting as a real “hub” for the placement of large productions.
To date, the following are part of CAI: BFSPA, Consorzio Agrario dell’Emilia Soc. Coop.va, Consorzio Agrario del Tirreno Soc. Coop.va, Consorzio Agrario Centro Sud Soc. Coop.va, Consorzio Agrario Adriatico Soc. Coop.va, Consorzio Agrario del Nordest Soc. Coop.va and Agrario Consorzio di Siena Soc. Coop.va.
CAI supports agricultural companies throughout the national territory with a growth path based on the creation of value which in the medium term reduces the costs of the means of production, complete technical assistance, a vast network of products and services, innovation and the valorisation of symbolic products of Made in Italy, promoting supply chain agreements capable of valorising the daily work of producers on the markets and guaranteeing quality to the consumer.
