Helicopters save New Zealand cherries
“It’s a bit of a worry but at the end of the day the weather is what it is and you can’t do much about it except getting helicopters out,” said Milne.
A large portion of the cherries will go to Asian countries like China and Taiwan. In the past few years China became the largest importer of New Zealand cherries after dethroning Taiwan. Together they take about 60 percent of cherry exports, which totaled around USD $31 million last year.
China has seen incredible growth in demands for New Zealand cherries and growers have reported exporters requesting huge amounts. Last week New Zealand exported 900 tonnes of cherries, the largest amount recorded in a one-week period. According to Tim Jones, chairman of Summerfruit NZ exports are expected to grow to around USD$36 million this season.
source: oann.com
