Because Calabria snubs Ferrero on hazelnuts for Nutella
Ferrero, which imports about 70% of its hazelnuts from Turkey, tried to buy the Calabrian Tonda but the local producers refused because they have other projects. All the details
Coriculture, or the cultivation of hazelnuts, in Calabria is a serious matter. It has a tradition that dates back to 1700 and Ferrero, the Italian multinational based in Luxembourg (the holding Ferrero International SA, since 1973, has its registered office, fiscal and administrative domicile in Findel di Sandweiler in Luxembourg), has come forward with twenty-year contracts to buy hazelnuts at market prices, but the producers said 'no'.
CORICULTURE IN CALABRIA
The trees, from which about 3,000 quintals of Calabrian hazelnuts are obtained, extend over 350 hectares between Cardinale and Torre Ruggiero, in the lower Ionian of Catanzaro. And to think that in the 70s and 80s, Agi reports, over five times as much was produced, even reaching 16,000 quintals a year.
In the area, now 40 people are dedicated to coriculture, making 90% of the Calabrian production.
A NICHE PRODUCT
“Ours is a niche product,” Giuseppe Rotiroti, president of the Consortium for the enhancement and protection of Calabrian hazelnuts, told the Agi news agency, explaining why the producers of the Calabrian Tonda rejected Ferrero's proposal.
Rotiroti added that the multinational buys about 70% of the hazelnuts it uses from Turkey – where crops are scarce due to climate change – and they don't want to throw their product into the mix. “Instead, we want to enhance its identity and we want consumers to come here to buy the product. Ferrero had offered us twenty-year contracts to buy our hazelnuts with contracts at market prices ”, he added.
The protection of the Calabrian Tonda is guaranteed by the establishment, in 2008, of the Consortium for the Enhancement and Protection of Calabria Hazelnuts and by the Association of organic Tonda di Calabria producers.
SAY 'NO' TO FERRERO TO CREATE NEW JOBS …
The 'no' to Ferrero, however, is not a desire to remain attached to tradition without looking to the future. Indeed, there is no shortage of projects and the priority is to give work.
“Our goal – explained Rotiroti – is to work hazelnuts in Calabria to create jobs. For now, we supply small artisans, in particular pastry and ice cream workshops ".
… AND EVOLVE
If for now it is a small production, the idea is to increase the activity and create its own plant for the transformation of the product.
“We still do not have the possibility to close the supply chain with transformation – explained the president of the consortium -. We send the hazelnuts to the Center-North and they send us the semi-finished product. We want to do all this here, between Cardinal and Torre Ruggiero ”.
"Several entrepreneurs and operators in the confectionery sector – says Rotiroti – have expressed interest in the transformation of hazelnuts on site and producers are strongly motivated to proceed in this direction".
THE PROJECT FOR THE TRANSFORMATION ON THE PLACE AND THE FUNDS
There is a project to close the circle. The transformation plant, reports Agi , will cost 500,000 euros and will employ at least 10 workers. The necessary funds will come from the Rural Development Program.
The construction of the plant would make it possible to strengthen and enhance the existing supply chain, increasing the value of the product by lowering production costs to open up to new markets.
With the realization of the project, according to Rotiroti, “there could be positive repercussions on the employment profile, as well as consolidating the synergy between local companies”.
NOT JUST SWEETS
The transformation of hazelnuts into semi-finished products would allow, among other things, to produce grain, flour, toasted hazelnut and hazelnut paste because, as the president of the consortium pointed out, the confectionery industry is not the only outlet for Calabrian coricola production.
In fact, "in recent months – says Rotiroti – a professional, working in the North, passionate about the local hazelnut reality, to which her family origins tie her, has created a line of cosmetics based on hazelnut oil, supplied by us, and which it contains vitamins and precious allies for skin care ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/perche-la-calabria-snobba-ferrero-sulle-nocciole-per-la-nutella/ on Wed, 30 Mar 2022 13:00:29 +0000.