Jon Clark, Director at Total Cherry, said, "The weather has not been kind, there has been a lot of cloud and hardly any sunshine which has deprived the cherries of that extra sweetness."
Volumes are down by around 50% on pre-season estimates of 4000 tons, but only marginally lower (10%), than last year which saw 2,500 tons harvested. The estimate was based on new plantings due to give fruit this season, but because of bad weather during blossoming as well as recent rain which caused a lot of splitting when the fruit was ripe the expected volumes have not materialised. Most of the damage is to uncovered crops, but as Jon explains there are still plenty of covered areas. Damage is also very regional.
As well as the British crop, Total Cherry have some fruit from Belgium, Bulgaria and Turkey, the US cherries are starting to arrive in small volumes via air freight, but the bigger volumes will come in August and September when sea freight starts to arrive in the UK.
On the whole demand is down, also due to the weather, Jon however is staying optimistic, "A little bit of sunshine would be a great help to increase demand and it has to come at some point!"
Retailers are giving strong support to British fruit, but Jon explains that the wholesale trade has by far been giving the better prices, he puts down to the ability of the wholesaler to adapt better to supply and demand.
On a positive note the wet weather has produced nice big sizes, with a little bit of sunshine it could still be a good cherry season.
For more information:Jon Clark
Total Cherry
Tel: +44 1775 717180
Mob: +44 7525 668880
jon.clark@totalcherry.co.uk