With Egypt, Greece and Morocco still being a month away from the citrus season, Turkey managed to get a head start. Eren Tarim is a Turkish exporter who deals in all kinds of citrus. According to Coşkun Eren the weather was on their side, allowing them to start the season two weeks early.
Citrus is Eren Tarim’s most important export product, and the season has been fairly good so far, Coskun Eren explains: “We think the citrus season will be great. The weather has been on our side so far, that’s why we were able to start all varieties two weeks earlier than expected. Besides that, the quality and the volume of the harvest have been great so all these factors really add up to a competitive advantage. We handle an average 25,000 tons of citrus and 10,000 tons of fruits & vegetables annually in our packaging facility.”
Although the season started early, there are still months of hard work ahead of Eren Tarim: “The citrus season lasts until May, with mandarins being the exception since that season ends in March. Harvesting of citrus usually ends around February, but thanks to our experience, we can keep our lemons intact until May. We’re not really worried about the weather and I hope it stays that way. We are really happy about how this season is going and expect to harvest at least 10% more lemons compared to last year!”
The Turkish citrus will be making their way all over the world, Eren continues: “We export to more than 62 countries and counting, so you could say our biggest market is Planet Earth. But the big portion of our customers come from Europe, Russia, the American continent and the Far East. We operate in very different markets and work with many types of customers around the globe. We see that as a privilege and that’s what pushes us to always improve.”
The competition in the world of citrus is fierce, with the Spanish being one of their main competitors. Eren is not worried though and feels they have an edge over the citrus from other countries: “Personally I have seen a lot of different lemon varieties from around the world and for me, the Turkish Interdonato is the best tasting and smelling variety out of all the lemons. Apart from that, Turkey has earlier starting and longer lasting seasons than Spain. On top of that Turkish products have an overall better pricing in terms of competing with Spain.”
For more information;
Coşkun Eren
Tel: +90 324 454 1487
Email: coskun@erentarim.com
www.erentarim.com/