The largest producers of cherries today are Turkey and the United States. Cherries are a popular fruit and are consumed heavily all over the world. While the United States and Turkey mainly produce sweet cherries, Eastern and Southern Europe produce some of the greatest production of sour cherries.
Turkey leads the way
Turkey is the largest producer of cherries, with almost 500 thousand tons of cherries produced over the last year. Turkey is following Chile in terms of exports, coming in 3rd, with most of them heading towards the Russian Federation and members of the European Union. Previously, cherry pickers in Turkey did not use modern methods and tactics to grow the plant, but, with recent developments, they were able to increasingly use modern harvesting techniques, lengthening the harvest season, for a best production. Turkey has the largest area of cherry plantations, followed by the United States and Italy in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Over 60% of Turkey’s exports remain in the European Union,
Cherry Marketing in the United States
The United States is one of the largest cherry exporters in the world and the second largest producer after Turkey. The United States maintained a position as the world’s largest producer until the last decade, when it was overtaken by Turkey. The United States depends on domestic consumption and exports to maintain the profitability of the cherry industry. Advertising is one of the main factors for the continued success of cherries in the United States. Various displays and audio advertisements highlight the various health benefits of cherries, which promote sales to a large extent.
Exports of irregular Chilean Chileans
Chilean pickers have improved their efficiency to produce cherry crops in a shorter time and have also acted on good export opportunities. The Chilean agricultural sector is the largest producer of cherries 6 in the world, recently surpassed by Italy and Spain. Chile is also the largest exporter of cherries 2 and in the world, lagging behind only in the United States in shipping. Even among the world’s leading consumers of cherries, Chile has boasted a production of over 80 thousand tons of cherries in the last year. Previously, Chile depended on the United States and Europe to produce most of its cherries.
The export trade of Spanish cherries
Spain produces a good quantity of cherries, but can enter the export market only in successive phases, since the first variety produced Rita is not able to be transported due to its susceptibility to cracking. Spain is the 5th largest exporter of cherries behind Hong Kong, which focuses on further exports to other countries instead of consumption. Spain relies mainly on the European Union for exports, with 25% of total exports made in the United Kingdom in 2013. Since Hong Kong also raises a large demand for cherries, Spanish companies are focusing on the production of high-quality cherries which can easily be transported to Hong Kong.
Cherries: a complex global market
While the growth of cherries, consumption and exports are closely related, they are not perfectly correlated. In fact, places like Hong Kong have a high consumption of cherries per capita, with limited access to the commercial cherry markets in neighboring countries and no room to grow fruit. As the global cherry market becomes more intertwined and foreign tastes are increasingly captured by domestic palates, the differentiation between buying cherries, selling and growing sectors will become increasingly important.
Production of cherries by country
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degree | State | Production in tons |
1 | Turkey | 445.556 |
2 | United States of America | 329.852 |
3 | Iran | 172,000 |
4 | Spain | 118.220 |
5 | Italy | 110.766 |
6 | Chile | 83.903 |
7 | Romania | 82.808 |
8 | Uzbekistan | 80,000 |
9 | Russian Federation | 77,000 |
10 | Greece | 73.380 |
11 | Ukraine | 67.330 |
12 | Austria | 56.883 |
13 | Syrian Arab Republic | 54.211 |
14 | Poland | 48.070 |
15 | France | 47,000 |
16 | Germany | 39.571 |
17 | China, mainland | 34.492 |
18 | China | 34.492 |
19 | Bulgaria | 33.294 |
20 | Lebanon | 21.620 |
21 | Serbia | 20.008 |
22 | Japan | 19,000 |
23 | Albania | 17.730 |
24 | Canada | 16,000 |
25 | Morocco | 15.524 |