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A white sheet of paper, written in marker and taped to the post: “Fuel out.” Since Thursday morning we have been reading it in various distributors in Calabria. And each sign lengthens the queue in front of the next facility. Inside supermarkets the scene is repeated among the shelves: trolleys full of pasta, long-life milk, canned goods, water. We buy out of fear that the trucks will no longer arrive. And fear empties the departments even before delivery delays. For now there is still goods, but deliveries are starting to become an unknown, especially for fruit and other fresh products.
In Calabria the situation remains diversified. At the Conad in via Fontana Vecchia, in the historic center of Catanzaro, deliveries were brought forward to Thursday. Now we are waiting to understand if other products will arrive and, above all, if it will be possible to replenish the fruit and vegetable department tomorrow. A similar scenario is also reported in Girifalco. At Despar, however, there are no problems at the moment: the last delivery arrived on Thursday and the next one is scheduled for Monday. The picture, however, remains linked to the evolution of the protest.
The alarm was raised by Confagricoltura, which reports agricultural and agri-food companies in difficulty in various regions, including Calabria. Some companies are unable to ship goods, orders remain blocked and perishable products risk deteriorating in warehouses. The problem mainly concerns fresh products, which must reach the points of sale within specific times. Every day of downtime can result in unsold goods and lost customers, even on foreign markets.
The consequences, the agricultural organization warns, may go beyond the immediate damage. For companies that work with fresh products, missing a delivery means compromising business relationships built over time. Hard-won market share may become difficult to regain, while costs continue to weigh on balance sheets.
There is also concern from Federdistribuzione, which draws attention to the risks for economic activities in the South. The association recognizes the right to demonstrate, but asks that the blockades do not prevent the movement of goods and do not compromise the work of companies. “It is urgent that the discussion between institutions and interested parties leads to concrete solutions”, he underlines, indicating the increase in energy costs as one of the issues to be addressed.
Filcams Cgil Calabria raises the alarm on the consequences of the blockade of farmers and hauliers: fuel unobtainable, supplies at risk and workers exposed to cuts in hours and loss of wages. The union asks President Occhiuto to convene a crisis table on work and the wage emergency.