The Turkish stone fruit season has begun, and exports will be starting in about a month. Although weather conditions have made the season more challenging for the Turkish producers, this is also true for other producing countries like Spain and France. Thankfully, the exporters have just had a chance to increase their list of buyers during the Fruit Logistica in Berlin.
According to Coskun Eren, marketing manager for Turkish fresh produce exporter Eren, the company is already fully occupied with the stone fruit season: “Our stone fruits are already on the domestic market, where the demand is high. Therefore there is no room for export in terms of volume. We expect to start the export season around mid-May in which early and mid-early apricots, peaches and nectarines will come first to the market from the south east of the country, namely Cukurova, where we are also based. Unfortunately, these varieties are expected to have considerable problems in terms of volume as there have been serious frosts, twice in a row within ten days, around the end of March. Major competitors of Turkey in stone fruits, namely Spain and France, have also had serious and widespread damages in many products, including stone fruits, due to similar reasons in early April.”
“Despite the unfortunate situation for early and mid-early varieties in Cukurova, for those ones which will come after, the season is expected to continue without serious problems for now. Eren’s cultivation areas in stone fruits are mostly concentrated on cherries, whereas our well-established contracted growers for apricots, peaches and nectarines, whom we inspect and regulate closely, are spread all over Turkey. Depending on the product and the variety, we supply our customers high quality and reliable products form its origin of production e.g. apricot from Malatya and Cukurova regions, peaches and nectarines from Bursa region and such.”
The weather conditions will have an impact on the prices of the stone fruit this season, Eren states: “Considering the damage caused by frosts together with the increasing input costs, the initial prices for the season are expected to be at high levels, nearly twice as much as last year. However, by the mid of the season there is an expectation that the prices will drop, but nowhere close to last year’s prices. This is going to be the most challenging matter for all producing countries. As every year, we’ve started to talk with our customers from Europe, South East Asia and Russia about their programs. Besides, potential customers whom we have just met during Fruit Logistica last week show high interest for the upcoming stone fruit season.”
Eren has used the Fruit Logistica exhibition to emphasize their new brand and slogan to existing and potential new clients, Eren explains. “We were very pleased to be back in Berlin after two years and had the chance to meet our customers once again face to face. We attended the fair with our new brand “Fresh Anatolia”, which calls attention to the fact that the earliest proven sign of agricultural activity in Anatolia is going back as far as BCE 9500, meaning the lands of Anatolia have been used for farming for over 11.000 years and are still being used for farming today. As we are proud to be harvesting our products from the fertile lands of Anatolia and presenting our customers the freshness of Anatolia, we thought Fruit Logistica would be the best place to launch our new brand with the “Sun & Fertility & Civilization” slogan.”
For more information:
Coskun Eren
Eren
Tel: +90 533 695 5802
Email: coskun@erentarim.com
www.freshanatolia.com