ABSTRACT
The fruit and vegetable CMO was broadly revised in 2007, when Regulation (EC) No. 1182/2007 entered into force. The new CAP perspectives of this sector in Italy are characterized by a progressive subsidy decoupling that will be completed in 2011 for the tomato sector and by 2012 for other processed fruit and vegetables. The Italian Ministry of Agriculture has adopted the option of the transitional period, preserving coupled payments, before applying the full decoupling process as stated by the same regulation. The reform has been particularly relevant for the processed tomato sector, where the subsidies made up about 50 per cent of the entire producers’ revenue. Decoupling 50 per cent of the product payments in the first period and the 100 per cent at the end of the transitional payments means a large portion of the specific crop revenue moves from the product to the producer with the risk of reducing the marginal convenience of the crop. Such risk has become a serious concern for the tomato industry because the traditional raw material basin could reduce the supply to such a degree that the demand from the processing plants might not be completely satisfied. As it is known, these concerns significantly increased the prices paid by the industries to the producers, but it was said increase was insufficient to guarantee that all the traditional producers maintain their previous production level.
