The Turkish blueberry season has been going rather smoothly, says Gizem Büyükkeskin, operations manager for Turkish blueberry producer and trader Qualitas Berry. However, the most busy time of the season is still coming up: "The weather is very mild here, which supports the early harvest of blueberries in Turkey. In the coming weeks, we expect to harvest around ten tons of fruit per day. The period when our harvest will be most intense is around May and June. We are expecting to harvest 600 tons of produce for the entire season."
Büyükkeskin feels that Turkish blueberries are gaining popularity in several markets. "The feedback we are getting now shows that the demand for blueberries will be very intense. The developments in blueberries in Turkey are attracting a lot of attention and the market seems to be growing gradually. For now, we are getting very good feedback from Dubai, Russia, Europe and the UK, as well as from our own country. As you'll understand, this makes us very happy."
So far, there haven't been any major difficulties in the season, as the weather has been positive during the harvest of the blueberries, Büyükkeskin explains: "We haven't faced any difficult situation, so far. Nature is supporting us during our harvest season in terms of weather. We're proceeding very carefully in all our orchards. We're very sensitive about managing the harvest correctly, control pests the right way and we organize trainings and update information at every stage."
Prices have cooled down a bit since the start of the Turkish season. "Our blueberry season started in January and the price was at 15 euro per kilogram, looking at 125 gr packaged products. Right now, it continues as 9 euro per kilogram. The most important development we have noticed this year is the increase in blueberry consumption in Turkey. Our prediction for the rest of the season is that prices will sit around 7-8 euro per kilogram, again looking at the 125 gr packaged products," Büyükkeskin concludes.
For more information:
Gizem Büyükkeskin
Qualitas Berry
Tel: +90 507 951 3390
Email: [email protected]
https://www.qualitasberry.com/en/