The VOG Consortium analyses large-scale distribution sales in March: trends in Europe reflect those seen in Italy. There is a rise in demand for pre-packaged product A dash to buy in supplies followed by a downturn, and then a return to more or less normal. March 2020, with the start of the lockdown first in Italy and then, gradually, in many other European countries, coincided with a particularly turbulent period for the apple sector, with see-sawing demand on both the Italian and the export markets. The VOG Consortium analysed the sales trend in this period, which was highly unusual due to the health emergency caused by Covid-19. After the Italian Government’s first lockdown Decree came into effect on 8 March, Italian chains virtually doubled their orders for apples: consumer demand grew strongly, partly due to the emotional response to the images of half-empty supermarkets, which led to a kind of buying frenzy. “However, the next week consumer demand, although high, turned out to be lower than forecast: so the orders for apples we received from large-scale distribution fell, while still above the average for the time of year,” VOG sales manager Klaus Hölzl tells us. “This switchback effect only stabilised … Continue reading March, the trend in apples after the lockdown