Climate disasters, unfortunately, have become the norm in the recent years, and it is the fruit and vegetable sector, as the most sensitive to climate change, that suffers more than other segments of agriculture.
According to EastFruit analysts, in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries, the spring of 2024 turned out to be unusually cool and rainy, which led to delays in the ripening of many fruits, including cherries. This also had a negative impact on the quality parameters of these fruits.
If the first wholesale lots of cherries in Uzbekistan usually appear on the market at the end of April, in 2024 the first commercial volumes were sold on the market only in mid-May. The quality of these cherries also left much to be desired.
At the moment there are still no large quantities of 28+ cherries available on the market, so we have not even been able to establish an average price for this category. In the meantime, larger cherries are the most desirable in the international market and especially in exports to China.
Read also: Uzbekistan delivers another blow to its own export of fruits and vegetables
On the wholesale market of Uzbekistan sweet cherry prices of less than 26mm are close to the maximum for this period of the year, even in US dollars. Interestingly, only early varieties of cherries are still offered.
Traditionally, the cherry season in Uzbekistan ended by mid-June, but in 2024 it actually just begins by the last week of May. This could create problems for exports of these fruits, because even in Ukraine local cherries are already actively harvested and sold. Therefore, it is possible that cherry prices in Uzbekistan will decline faster than usual if the harvest does not turn out to be lower than preliminary expectations.
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