Hopes are high for the upcoming Australian cherry season. Certainly after an overall dissapointing crop in 2016.
"Despite persistent rain a few weeks ago in certain areas of Victoria, the entire production is expected to rise steeply," says Sherry Xu of Royal Fresh International.
Some cherry orchard owners from Victoria estimated the production may be increased by 30% during the upcoming harvest; and there are even more promising figure of 50% at some other farms in New South Wales.
Combined, the two states are the main cherry production areas of mainland Australia. Although at the moment it is too early to comment on sizes and volumes, most growers have high expectations about this season's harvest and export business.
Speaking of harvest time, early cherry varieties from Victoria are expected to enter the market towards the end of October. For export, cherries shipments may have to wait until early November. New South Wales generally starts 1 to 2 weeks later.
In order to catch the Winter sales peak days at local markets, farmers will normally try to harvest and sell most of their cherries before Christmas. After Christmas, a third cherry region, Tasmania, will also enter the market.
"Another encouraging and motivating piece of news for our cherry orchards is that Vietnam has reopened to Australian cherries from 2017. We look forward to exporting Australian cherries there in a month's time," concludes Sherry.
