High quality and excellent sizes are what to expect for the Turkish season

The cherry season in Turkey has finally begun, with three other regions set to start harvesting soon, as stated by Yigit Gokyigit, commercial coordinator of the Turkish exporter of fresh produce: “Alanar has not yet begun to harvest cherries from its own orchards, but we started the season this week, thanks to the cherries from our contract growers."

"We expect to harvest cherries from our orchards next week; our orchards are located in three different Turkish regions: Manisa, Canakkale, and Afyon. Harvesting in Afyon is expected to begin around the end of June”.

Alanar was acquired in 2018 by Tekfen Holding, one of the country's major conglomerates. Following the acquisition, the group made significant investments in its orchards, especially for cherries, figs, apricots, plums, and blueberries. According to Gokyigit, this investment means that the volumes of cherries that Alanar will harvest over the years will steadily increase each season.

“We still have relatively young trees, so our harvesting volumes increase every year. We expect to have over 2,000 tons of cherries from our orchards annually, in about five years. Due to the impact of weather conditions, we lost a significant amount of our harvest this year. We will be able to harvest up to 400 tons of cherries from our orchards, compared to the 600 tons we had anticipated before the season”.

The fact that volumes are lower does not mean that the season will not be successful, as Gokyigit noted better quality and larger sizes compared to last year: “Although we lost significant volumes of cherries this year, we expect to have good-quality cherries and larger sizes than in previous years.

Read the full article: FreshPlaza
Image: Alanar Fruit

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