November 19 2007, 09:00

Lemon harvest did not decrease in the country - Turkish suppliers

Various sources informed about decreased lemon production in Turkey; despite of this fact, Saygin Eroglu, the representative of Turkish company CENA said in his interview to FreshPlaza.com portal, that, according to his data, lemon production did not decline in the country comparing to 2006.

To the opinion of the source, almost twofold growth of prices for lemon in Turkey is mostly predetermined by the decreased lemon production in Spain and Italy (according to the estimations of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly, lemon production 2007 declined 25-35% in these countries). So, this season Turkish companies supply lemons even to Italy.

However, other Turkish suppliers - the interviewees of the experts of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" disagree. According to the estimations of some of them, the reduction of the production was rather significant; most exporters reduced the supplied volumes 30-40%.

According to Saygin Eroglu, at the present moment Turkish suppliers work with the lemons of Interdonaton variety; the supplies of this variety will be over approximately by the end of year. Afterwards, the lemons of Lamas variety will be supplied January till almost mid summer. The quality of lemons of Turkish origin is somewhat lower than past year, mostly because of the reduced average size of the fruit.

We'd like to remind that foreign suppliers of fruits & vegetables will be able to directly meet with the leading Ukrainian importers of fruits and vegetables, and also with the representatives of retail chains during the wholesale-retail center which will be held for the first time in Ukraine, in the framework of the fourth international conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2007. Meeting New Leader" on the 4th-6th of December 2007 in Kyiv. We'd like to remind that there are only five days left till the end of registration of the participants of the conference and wholesale-retail center!