Hot on the heels of soft fruit’s rapid ascent are cherries, which has been one of the fastest-growing categories in the past two years. In fact, between May 2017 and May 2018, it was the fastest-growing fruit, boasting a 20 per cent rise in sales value.
One of the exciting things about cherries is that, alongside berries, it is one of the categories offering British growers real export opportunities as sales of the fruit take off worldwide. Established UK grower and importer Chambers is one company backing the stonefruit for expansion, as international markets send a clear signal for more cherries.
Commercial director James Miller says the huge demand for cherries has been driven primarily by China. “Globally, the main trend has been the huge increase in Chilean sales to China with over 85 per cent of Chilean exports now supplying China,” he says. “Their current consumption is still significantly below more established markets, at around 230g per capita, however China is targeted to achieve 300g by 2020 meaning a potential import of 400,000 tonnes.
“There are also now other emerging markets such as South Korea, which are also increasing their purchase volumes and focusing on smaller fruit that has historically been supplied to E U and UK markets.”
Closer to home, Britain remains a bullish market for cherry consumption. “In the UK retail sector cherries are the only stonefruit category in growth, with a significant increase in penetration year on year from eight per cent to around 40 per cent,” says Miller. “UK consumption is still lower than in some more established markets at around 300g per capita so even small increases to equal markets such as Germany would increase market volumes by another 50,000t.”
One of the key targets for Chambers is becoming a truly year-round supplier by overcoming a gap in its international supply base. Miller says: “There are still around 10 weeks where there is no commercial supply in late September, early October, and late March/April. The focus to achieve this is to extend later production areas in current countries, establish new production areas, and developments in storage techniques to extend season.”
Wild weather patterns are also a natural predator of cherries, which are notoriously delicate creatures. Most notably, a 20-minute hail storm in Chile last November wiped out huge amounts of stonefruit production
“The 2018-2019 season out of Latin America has been a challenging season, with significant hail damage in Chile and heavy rain in Argentina restricting export volumes. In the UK, last year was a difficult year with production lower than forecast.”
As with a lot of produce, this winter has brought happier times in Europe, however, with Miller anticipating a solid crop. “In Spain, the winter has been good, with good chill units. At this stage the bud looks good and long-term weather forecasts look okay, so we are expecting a more normal year,” he says.
Indeed key varietal innovations are now beginning to shift in emphasis from season extension to durability. “Production has been built around a core of varieties (Karina, Kordia, Lapins, Penny, Regina and Sweetheart) to try to ensure consistency year round,” Miller says.
“New variety trials have been focused on cracking resistant varieties alongside those that can achieve either earlier or later production…. obviously these are highly confidential!”
