The group of companies "Melitopol sweet cherry" in 2019 already exported more than 600 tons of sweet cherry. This was told by the financial director of the group of companies "Melitopol cherry" Karina Stanchevskaya.

The farm has 275 hectares of sweet cherry, of which: 75 hectares are young stands, 200 hectares are older than 5-10 years, and some are even older. This year, the export of cherries in the company remained at the level of last year, and amounted to 90% of the cherries grown by the farm.

“This year we exported our goods to Italy, and the local customers there were delighted - not a percent of rejection - calibrated, sweet cherry to sweet cherry. Therefore, their idea of ​​Ukrainian suppliers as sellers of relatively cheap goods is changing, they understand that we can also give premium, ”said Stanchevskaya.

The company also exported berries to the countries of the European Union and to Belarus. “For the last country, we specially created free quarantine plots, because this is required by the legislation of the Eurasian Union. There are a lot of inquiries from Middle Eastern countries this season. There we are talking about large parties, which will be limited by the aircraft carrying capacity - you can send 7-10 tons of cherries daily, ”said Karina Stanchevskaya.

She also added that working with these markets is not easy. “Very high demands are placed on packaging, sorting, color and uniformity of fruits.

Due to the high competition, they may not give a second chance to a supplier who has been guilty. All world producers are interested in this particular region, where the prices for cherries are high - the retail price of one kilogram reaches $ 20, ”said the financial director.