The Turkish cherry season seems to be doing a lot better than the last two, as there is less rainy weather, says Alper Kerim, owner of Turkish fruit exporter Demir Fresh Fruits: "We are talking with our growers and we are in a very close connections with them during this period. This is the time that we can make a solid estimation about upcoming cherry season. So far, the season is looking good. The previous two seasons of Turkish cherries wasn't good because of the Turkish weather problems. Too much rainy weather during the harvest times and this affected the quality of the cherries. This year, we expect much better weather conditions for cherry."
Although Kerim's main clients can be found in Asia, in terms of expansion the exporter is looking towards the European territories. "Turkish cherries are the number one products in Turkey and there is always a demand for our cherries from all over the world. This year, I'm expecting a huge demand for Turkish cherries compared to previous years, because we're seeing that there are shortages of cherries in several countries. For Demir Fresh Fruits, the focus will be on the European market this year. We already have a few agreements with one of the supermarkets in Europe. We're able to send large volumes to Europe and the transit times are very suitable for cherries. Asian countries remain our biggest buyers of course, because we have very reliable partners in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and we'll be shipping cherries to these territories as well."
So far, the weather in Turkey has played nice. But Kerim knows they're not out of the woods just yet, as rain can still come and mess up the cherry season: "Although everything is looking good at the moment, the weather conditions will remain a major challenges for us. The cherries are simply very sensitive products and all conditions must be set in the proper way. This means we're hoping for less rains during the time that we harvest the cherries."
"We've made new a major investment in a cherry packing machine this year and it is ready for our cherry season. We'll start to use our new latest cherry packing facility with the most demanded and famous Turkish cherry variety 'Napoleon'. We are able to sort out problematic cherry pieces with our optic scan packing machine and it will help us to move past our Turkish rivals. Our aim is to ship the best cherries of the world, under our brand 'BonBon'. We suggest our partners and any new buyers to contact us during the pre-season in order to taste our delicious cherries," Kerim concludes.
For more information:
Alper Kerim
Demir Fresh Fruits
Tel: +90 532 514 2080
Email: [email protected]
www.dff.com.tr