Unfavorable weather conditions caused major problems to the Greek cherry growing campaign and even led to its early termination, said Onur Mustafa Ahmet, CEO of Greek cherry exporter Yaka, online publication FreshPlaza reported on July 12.
“June was probably the hottest month ever experienced in Greece. In northern Greece, in mountainous areas, there were many days with temperatures of 38°C. This heat has affected consumption more than production. As the heat came so quickly, consumers were inclined to buy other fruits, such as watermelon and peaches. Damage to production occurred even before the heat began, as the cold and rain in early May caused a lot of fruit to fall from the trees.”complains the general manager of Yaka.
Greece suffered numerous hailstorms and heat waves at the beginning of the year, Ahmet explains: “In our Komotini region, there were two hailstorms in May, which damaged 80% of the cherry crop. Then it happened again in the Edessa area at the end of May and then at the end of June in the same region. Due to the large amounts of hail and the lack of cherries on the trees, volumes were very limited for the entire season, which ended at the end of June, when normally it would have continued until the end of July.”.
With the arrival of warm weather in April, the cherry season started exceptionally early, the specialist explains. He said that normally the cherry season starts in mid-May and lasts until mid-July, but due to the April heat, the company already exported sorted and packaged cherries to German supermarkets on May 10. “Everything looked very promising, but then rain, hail and heat shortened the season.”“Akhmet complains.
He said that at the moment there are no cherries to export in the required quantities, “So the season is practically over”. “This season we have been operating at about half the normal volume. We even tried working with Bulgarian cherries, but they had quality problems.”said the exporter.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.