The situation in Turkey has been a volatile one, with currency and weather issues along the way. The apple cultivation has been good overall though, with India taking a special interest in the produce. Despite the weather issues and the loss of 20 per cent of the produce in October, the total volumes this season were similar to last year.
The Turkish apple season has been going as well as expected, says Mona Hamed, CEO for Arona. “This year our volumes are almost identical to last season. We have large volumes of a variety of apples available for orders at all times. We are loading weekly now and the amount of orders are near the same as last year, thankfully. We stated we wanted to enter new markets in the form of Germany and South Africa. We have not been able to work with the German market for now. However, we are in contact with a couple of companies in South Africa, who have expressed interest in both apples and kiwis. We are hoping that we can do business together in this upcoming month.”
Weather in Mersin had caused Arona about 20% of their harvest in October, but according to Hamed there has been no major loss of produce since that time. “The severe weather in Mersin has delayed one of our shipments so far, as the Ship was unable to make it to the port on time. Whenever the weather becomes like this, we mostly worry about transit because we have a huge supply of apples, so even if we lose some it’s not a big problem for us. Getting the produce to our clients on time is the bigger priority.”
The cultivation of organic apples is growing, but Hamed doesn’t expect Arona to pursue a complete organic cultivation: “I understand that the idea of organic sounds tasty, wonderful, healthy and colorful. However, the reality is different. If I was growing fruits in my own greenhouse for my personal use, I prefer organic, for sure. Yet, we are working with large volumes of fruits and we ship them all around the world. It takes about 28 days for our apple containers to reach India, so it is our biggest priority to make sure that the fruits do not change colors, go rancid or get destroyed along the way. Organic apples change colors and rot so fast. Having said that, our fruits are not injected with any hormones or medicine. We use Smartfresh technology in order to enhance the shelf life of our apples so they maintain their integrity for a longer period of time. This way, we are able to deliver fresh fruits that meet our customers' high expectations.”
For more information:
Mona Hamed
Arona International
Tel: +0090 531 485 03 21
Email: [email protected]