Ahead of the start of the Turkish cherry season, all lights are on green for now, says Isa Yanar, managing director for Turkish fresh produce exporter Asya Fresh: "The fall and winter months in Turkey were within the seasonal norms. Although the snowy weather in Turkey's interior at the end of March made some cherry producers nervous, it was generally well received by all. Currently, all factors indicate that we are in for a good cherry harvest season."
Yanar has hope that the increased stone fruit production in general will also mean higher volumes of production for the cherry season, but nothing is certain at this point in the year "At this stage, we believe it is still too early to have accurate data on the amount of cherries to be harvested. We hope that the increase in other stone fruit products will also have an impact on cherries. We are closely monitoring climatic events and estimated production expectations in the regional countries. We immediately share the developments and expectations in our region with the leading service provider companies in Europe."
Competition among Turkish cherry exporters has been sidelined in favor of trying to work together to minimize costs: "We have a lot of good clients in Europe, the Far East and even Africa. Of course, the European market is still the strongest position and this means it's an important market for us. Our aim is to expand our market share and increase our brand value in our existing markets. We've started to build a strong relationship with our own group producers in Turkey, rather than competing among ourselves. We'll try to expand this relationship every year. As a result, we've noticed that costs have decreased through the power of unity with our colleagues in Turkey," Yanar concludes.
For more information:
Isa Yanar
Asya Fresh
Tel: +90 536 5730579
Email: isa@asyafresh.com
www.asyafresh.com