The UK cherry season has had a good start, according to Jon Clark of Total Cherry, with exceptionally sweet fruits this season.
“We started with the Merchant variety on the 24th of June, and have just picked Stella and Van. We will now move on to primarily Kordia and Penny. All of the fruit is exceptionally sweet.
“Volumes are down to this time last year, but this is only due to season timings. The cooler weather has delayed the season slightly. There has been some rain, but that has not impacted on the professional growers, who all have good covering systems. Last season was nearly 2 weeks earlier so by this time the season was almost coming to an end, whereas now it is coming to its peak. The high volume picks have been this week and will be for the next 10 days.”
Despite some farmers being late with covering their cherries, Jon says this did not have much of an impact.
“The size of the fruit is good, with over 80% of the crop being in excess of 26mm and a large percentage of that being 28/30mm.”
The early end to the Spanish Picota has influenced the demand positively, but Jon believes this is not the only reason for the popularity of this season’s fruit.
“Due to the great taste and sweet flavour of the fruit, people just keep coming back for more.
“Prices have come under a little pressure, as they always do at the height of the season, however that looks to be only temporary as the high demand is now changing the market dynamic and as we enter in to August, volumes will fall and prices will rise,” Jon concludes.
