High volumes of Turkish cherries are expected, says Coskun Eren, marketing manager for Turkish fresh produce exporter Eren: "A Turkish cherry season with both good yield and quality is expected. Accordingly, we will be increasing our cherry production with our extensive supply network established over many years, throughout all major cherry producing regions of Turkey. We've been gearing up for the season with our teams on the field, planning the harvest operations and transitions in between regions, to ensure we are well-prepared and on schedule for the season. So far, the season is progressing well and as expected. High volumes are anticipated from early June."
Ahead of the season, Eren had already received several requests from new clients, which means the exporter could open up some new markets this year. "We actually have a very wide country portfolio when it comes to cherries, namely South East Asia, North America, EU and Russia. We expect good demand, like we had during all of the previous seasons. We've been asked by our customers about the expectations in terms of volume, quality, prices and such for the upcoming season for quite some time, and we've been informing them one by one. We have been planning our programs accordingly to meet the demand sustainably. Along with our existing ones, we have been receiving many messages from new customers in different countries, which would actually lead us to open up new markets this season as well."
Eren emphasizes that the competition is different depending on the export market, but they've been monitoring the situation closely: "Our competition for cherries actually varies depending on the market. We mainly face US competition in South East Asia. For exports to the EU, Greece and Spain stand out as main players, due to their competitive advantage in terms of logistics. Russia, which has been the second-largest export market for Turkish cherries last season, inevitably draws competition from all Turkish companies. Italy and France also come along from time to time in specific markets. As Eren, we have always been monitoring the competition origins well ahead of the season start, not only for cherries but for all products on our belt, and build our strategies accordingly."
Weather conditions are becoming a real issue, which Eren contributes to climate change. "The most and top priority concern is mainly the climate change. Warm winters result in shorter cooling durations, thus affecting the fruit set and yield, which in turn is leading to instability in terms of volume and quality. These weather conditions are increasingly challenging to manage in recent years. As Eren, we make our long term plans for reaching out to all production regions with different altitudes, newly planted areas and new cultivars adapted to climate change."
All in all, Eren feels the company is ready for the upcoming cherry season and expects the season to be a success: "By the first week of June, we will start our programs at a fast pace and proceed with the onset of every region, one by one. So far, cherry prices are high, as is the usual case during the start of the season. However, these prices are expected to stabilize soon. A long season is coming up, with good availability and high quality until early or even mid-August, as long as there are no unusual weather conditions. We are ready for the season and believe another successful Turkish cherry season is ahead of us," he concludes.
For more information:
Coskun Eren
Eren
Tel: +90 533 695 5802
Email: [email protected]
www.freshanatolia.com