This season’s excellent cherry quality and high calibres are perfect for the German market, says Yigit Gökyigit, commercial coordinator at Turkish grower-exporter Alanar Fruit Company
Yigit, Fruitnet understands conditions in Turkey are looking good for cherries this season. Can you tell us a bit more?
Yigit Gökyigit: This year we have been having great weather so far for the cherry season. Unlike how it was in the last couple of years, this year we expect to see good volumes of cherries all around Turkey.
What are the main varieties?
YG: Of course, Alanar is not just an exporter, but also one of the main growers of cherries in Turkey. We will be harvesting over 600 tonnes of cherries from our own orchards. We export the Z-900, the main variety in Turkey, in addition to the sophisticated Regina variety, grown in our own orchards. Alanar is one of the biggest Regina growers in Europe.
What markets are you targeting this campaign?
YG: We expect to have great quality and larger sizes this year as well. For years, Germany has been the main market for Alanar. I think we will be exporting more cherries there this year due to the quality and greater quantity of larger sizes including 26mm-plus and 28mm-plus, as the German market demands.
What are the main challenges this season?
YG: I am glad we do not appear to have so many big challenges this year. The Red Sea crisis is not affecting us particularly for cherries since our main market is Europe. Of course we also have customers overseas, such as in East Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. However, we ship our niche cherries there by air.
