The situation of Bulgaria's 2016 cherry crop has been summarised by
Zhivka Grozdeva, a member of the Management Board of the Association of Fruit Growers in Bulgaria, who spoke Sunday 15 May to FOCUS News Agency. “We hoped for good crops but preliminary calculations show the cherry crops will be significantly poorer compared to last year,” she said.
In Grozdeva’s words, the situation concerning cherries this year is not very good but things have to be considered with respect to the different regions and cherry varieties.
“Most crops have been destroyed in Kyustendil. The same is true for plums and some other fruits. Poorer cherry, apricot, and peach crops are also expected in Northeast Bulgaria,” the expert pointed out.
“In this region, the expected cherry crops will be some 20% to 30% lower,” Zhivka Grozdeva remarked.
According to her, as regards some varieties, all crops were destroyed.
“The price of a kilo of cherries on the market is not more than BGN 10 but I expect it to normalise within about ten days,” Zhivka Grozdeva went on to say.
In her words, last year’s crops were very good.
“There were too many products on the market and their price fell to BGN 0.6 in some places. The average wholesale price stood at BGN 1 to BGN 1.5,” the specialist commented.
“At present the wholesale market price stands at BGN 4 to BGN 6; it depends on the quality. Each retail chain forms the price but the prices do not exceed BGN 10 on the market,” Grozdeva noted.
According to her, this is due in some extent to the fact that the early cherry variety crops are poor this year.
“Bulgarian cherries are in demand by foreign suppliers,” the member of the Management Board of the Association of Fruit Growers in Bulgaria stated.
In her view, Bulgarian products are liked on the markets they have broken into as Bulgaria’s geographic features with respect to growing fruits and vegetables are very good.
“Bulgarian fruits are sweeter and have different taste qualities than those coming from Spain and Italy, which have already got a place on the western market,” Grozdeva noted.
In her words, the Bulgarian exports are mainly for Romania and perhaps about 40% of Bulgarian fruits are sold there.
Not more than 30% of them are sold on the Bulgarian market and 30% to 40% are exported to countries in Western Europe like Germany, England, and the Netherlands as well as Poland.
According to Grozdeva, cherries are very rarely imported into Bulgaria and this is not seen every year.
