The Red Sea crisis has changed the landscape of Turkish apple export to India, says Alper Kerim, owner of Turkish fruit exporter Demir Fresh Fruits: "When it comes to the apple trade to India, nothing is as it was before, actually. Ever since the Red Sea crisis the transit times have increased, freight rates have increased and a lot of delays occurred, but we're still surviving despite all of these challenges. We have shipped 350 containers of apples to India until now. So far, so good, I could say. Transit times are indeed longer, but the quality of our apples is making sure they can withstand these longer transit times. We're very happy with our products' quality, allowing our export to India to continue."
Despite the difficulties, Kerim is still exporting their apples to various markets at this point of the season. "We're currently shipping our apples to the Middle-East, Asian countries and some shipments to Russia as well. The prices of Turkish apples have increased by about 10-15 per cent compared to last season. The Red sea crisis has a big effect on these prices, as freight rates have also shot up."
With their apple season almost coming to an end, Demir Fresh Fruits will focus on a different product, Kerim explains: "We'll be preparing cherry season ahead of our next apple season. We have very good agreements for cherries for the upcoming season. We want to keep continue our successful apple operation practices on the cherries as well. Our cherry export target will be mainly Europe and Asian countries and we're looking forward to getting started."
When asked what he wish he would've done different with the knowledge he has now, Kerim just states he'd tried to get more apples into India earlier, with his very own container vessel. "We are shipowners as well. Demir Shipping is our other company, and as such we have our own cargo vessels. However, they are all bulk cargo vessels. I wished to have a single container vessel with the Turkish flag and load my and other Turkish apple exporters' containers to India," he concludes.
For more information:
Alper Kerim
Demir Fresh Fruits
Tel: +90 532 514 2080
Email: alper@dff.com.tr
www.dff.com.tr