Chile's cherry harvest started mid to late October, and the first cherries arrived into the U.S. the first week of November. These are all shipped by air with the first vessel arrivals expected by December 15. With near-perfect growing conditions, the quality of arrivals is very nice. "In fact, we expect great quality for the entire season," says Chuck Sinks with Honeybear Brands.
Favorable growing conditions are also anticipated to result in another record crop, just like last year. Although last year's record crop brought some logistics challenges, in particular with shipments going to China, Sinks is not concerned about the volume coming into the U.S. market. "I believe a bit more volume will be directed to the U.S. this season because of what happened last year, but we don't want to tip the scales too far and cause issues in the U.S. market," he said. "Overall, we feel we can get the volumes sold with the right quality."
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Lower landed cost programs
At the moment, Honeybear plans on bringing in between 125 and 150 loads of cherries this season to both coasts of the U.S. "Importing into Washington state as well as Philadelphia allows us to co-load cherries with our domestic apple programs. Leveraging our freight division and multiple shipping points enables us to offer lower landed cost programs with retailers."
Honeybear is excited to meet the holiday and winter shipping demand for cherries and help their retail partners grow their Chilean cherry business. "We have been a leading importer of cherries into the U.S. for more than eight years and continue to build demand." With a strong import program, retailers will be able to offer high quality, fresh cherries throughout the winter months. This will also result in consumers continuing to shop for cherries during the domestic cherry season next summer.
© Honeybear Marketing
For more information:
Chuck Sinks
Honeybear Marketing
Tel: +1 (913) 485-0366
[email protected]
www.honeybearmarketing.com
