The growing period for the Turkish cherries has been rather positive, says Belit Balci, deputy managing director of Turkish fresh produce exporter Alara Tarim: “The weather conditions are favourable during the cherry production period. Chill hours have been sufficient, temperatures were mild during the blooming period, with an exception of frost for a few nights in the peak to late parts, which did not have a major impact on the potential volume. The early area fruit is looking clear and good. Later parts are still pending and will be clear in a week to 10 days’ time. Current May temperatures are lower than the historical monthly average, which will delay the harvest to 25-29 May in the early regions. The cherry season is expected to end in eight or nine weeks.”
Preparations for the cherry export season are almost completely finished, but the challenges are already apparent with the current state of the global economy, Balci explains. “Demand is good and sales plans with retailers in EU and UK as well as overseas are almost completed. The inflation environment of the global economy is leading to higher production costs compared with historical data, but consumers in targeted markets are looking for cheaper products, in order to save money in this expensive environment, which creates a dilemma. We’ll closely observe this and try to create a balance between market and grower, which will not be an easy mission.”
As demand is strong, prices could become high. However it’s impossible to know what the market will look like once the export finally begins, Balci states. “EU and UK will be our main markets. We are getting demand from overseas and will start developing business with retailers in these markets. Price is an output of the demand and supply balance. So we will have an understanding on market prices expectations once we will have a full picture about seasonal dynamics including our country and competing countries.”
Although competition is fierce, Balci believes they’ll have enough resources to get ahead: “Countries within the same production period between the end of May and the end of July are the competition to us. It’s all about responding to market expectations in a sustainable way, by creating point of differences on quality and service, with the help of our own production on 220 ha, with globally accepted varieties, different than traditional production in Turkey. Our sophisticated cherry sorting line, Unitec’s latest version, is supporting our high capacity and allows us to serve the top quality cherries to the world market shelves. Protecting the balance between the market and production is the key of sustainability,” he concludes.
For more information:
Belit Balci
Alara Tarim
Tel: +90 224 280 80 40
Email: bbalci@alaraagri.com
www.alaraagri.com