China, one of the biggest cherry importers in the world, has opened its gates to cherries from Turkey. However China brought in a maximum 16 day cold chain limit to eliminate the possibility of Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitate) in Turkish cherries. The project to enter into the China market was started in Demirci, Manisa, a city located in western Turkey.
As a part of this project, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Institute Directorate started a production area free of Mediterranean fruit fly. Demirci is a high-altitude production area and it has no production other than cherries in the area, which gives it certain advantages in this regard.
The goal of the project is to demonstrate the quality and health of the Turkish cherries and to open up the gates for exporting to China. Many cherry growers in the Demirci area are expected to benefit from this project.
The Far East market has been especially intriguing for Turkish growers due to its high demand and purchasing power in the market and Turkish exporters have exported 76,000 tons of products for an export revenue of 161 million USD so far in 2018.
Turkish growers believe that they can easily double this figure with the aforementioned project and Turkish Cargo has been also helpful in offering advantageous freight rates to growers for exports.
Germany has been so far the top export destination for cherries with an export value of 85 million USD, followed by Russia with 32 million USD and Norway with 8.5 million USD. Export numbers to Russia, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Singapore show a significant rise compared to previous years.
Source: Haberturk