Canakkale, a city located in western Turkey is one of the main production regions for cherries in the country. However the growers are unhappy with the price levels this season as the export prices went down from 2 USD per kg in 2017 to 1 USD per kg in 2018. The price in the domestic market is also around 0.5 – 0.75 USD per kg which is also far from satisfactory for growers.
Grower Mehmet Gundogdu: “We had earned good money last season at 2 USD per kg price level and this season had also started well but then the prices started to drop and now it has hit rock bottom. Currently the sale price is below the break-even point for us, we are actually losing money at these prices. Growing cherries is labor intensive and so very costly.
The middlemen are earning all the money in this trade and the prices triple from grower to retail. They are working together to drive down the prices. The consumers are also unhappy with the prices. We were also expecting better prices in export markets especially with more demand coming Russia due to the World Cup but so far it has not been the case. This pushes our products even more to the domestic market and the middlemen are using this as an opportunity to pressure the growers to lower their prices.”
Source: Hurriyet
