The Turkish cherry season is just about over and it’s been a solid year according to one Turkish exporter. Export volumes were higher than they were last year, despite the obvious problems still in the world. The season was delayed by a few weeks due to the weather, and the Asian market could not provide the opportunities the exporters had hoped for.
Although the weather did delay the Turkish cherry season somewhat, Canlar assistant manager, Enes Gurgen, states the fruit itself was on a good level this year: “The Turkish cherry season started with good level harvests. As usual, the quality and taste of these fruits were good all over the Turkey orchards, the season was just delayed slightly due to the weather conditions. Local demand was high, therefore the local price index started higher compared to previous years. In many countries demand was slow due to the lockdowns. With these market conditions in mind, supply, demand and competition was too volatile. However, this year we promoted our new brand ‘Solaris Fruit’ in the various markets.”
Canlar would’ve liked to expand on their Asian markets, as they did run shipments to China last year. Gurgen explains it was more difficult this season. “As we have over 30 years of experience in this business in both the European and Scandinavian market, we’ve expanded our focus to other markets and introduced our new brand in India and other countries in Asia and the Middle East. Our expectations were high in regards to the Asian market, specifically in China and South Korea, as we did shipments to China last year. However, due to some unexpected reasons the export to these markets could not start up this season. We do have hope for the next years. We believe that well prepared, infrastructural ready companies with high standard quality process will re-enter to these countries soon. Our brand has its own quality specifications.”
Thanks to the investments the company made prior to the season, lower demand did not lead to lower volumes being sold on the market, Gurgen says: “Despite all of the worldwide challenges and problems, this year we managed increased our export volumes compared to last year. Canlar did go for the new investments and re-construction of our facilities, upgraded our sorting and processing machinery from 8 lines Unitec Cherry Vision 2.0 to 20 Line Cherry Vision 3.0. We also upgraded our cold storage and processing facility to commit and ensure product hygiene and safety.”
“Currently we’re looking forward for the grape, fig and pomegranate harvests, as well as to personally meet with our customers in the world. To provide better quality, Canlar Fruit continued the 2021 investments; we signed the agreement of our new warehouse with ‘Cantek Group’. This new cold storage will be placed in Antalya with an 8.000m² closed area and have a total capacity of 6,000 tons with -40°C cold shock, -18°C storage, and atmosphere control.” Gurgen concludes.
