There'll be lower production of Iceberg lettuce this year compared to previous seasons, says Kerim Taner, executive chairman for Turkish fresh produce exporter Perla Fruit: "Iceberg production across Türkiye is lower compared to previous years. As Perla Fruit, we're producing Iceberg on approximately 100 hectares of land with our contracted growers in the İzmir Menderes region."
© Perla Fruit Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.
Taner expects the Iceberg season to remain busy for quite a few more months, as production will continue in greenhouses in January. "We have a winter-season production. The first harvests from open-field production start in mid-October and continue until the end of December. Production in the greenhouse begins in the first week of January and continues until mid-April. The demand in the domestic market has been very strong for the past two months, and as of this week, strong demand has also started to emerge from European countries, especially Germany and the Netherlands. We expect strong demand from both the domestic market and European countries until May next year."
Perla Fruit uses a vacuum cooling technology, which Taner feels will allow the company to export the Iceberg lettuce to Scandinavia and the UK if they want to do so: "All of our harvested Iceberg lettuces are rapidly cooled using vacuum cooling technology, which extends both shelf life and storage life. Over the past two years, we have achieved high customer satisfaction in both export and domestic markets. With this in mind, we're also considering starting exports to the UK and Scandinavian countries this year, where delivery times are approximately seven days from Türkiye."
© Perla Fruit Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.
"This year, in order to extend the season, we're also planning production in high-altitude regions. With open-field production starting from April, we aim to supply Iceberg year-round in 2026."
The Turkish exporter is also in the midst of its vine tomato season. "Alongside the Iceberg season, our tomato on the vine exports are also continuing intensively. We export tomatoes grown in modern greenhouses across many different regions of Turkey to numerous European countries. We successfully met the strong demand from our customers ahead of Christmas, and we anticipate that demand for cluster tomatoes will continue to increase in the coming period," Taner concludes.
For more information:
Kerim Taner
Perla Fruit
Tel: +90 224 502 1888
[email protected]
www.perlafruit.com
