Turkish cherry exports rebound to $235 million after 2025 frost losses

Exports recover from a frost-hit season

Türkiye exported 68,737 tonnes of cherries and generated $235 million in revenue between January 1 and August 10, 2026, according to a statement from the Aegean Exporters’ Associations reported by Turktime. The result marks a sharp recovery from the disruption that affected the country’s cherry crop and overseas sales in 2025.

During the corresponding period of 2025, Türkiye shipped 6,040 tonnes valued at $47.728 million. Year on year, export volume increased by approximately eleven times, while foreign-currency revenue rose fourfold. The difference between those growth rates also indicates a substantially lower average export value per tonne than in the severely constrained 2025 season.

The 2025 decline followed frost during the flowering stage, which damaged cherry production. Cengiz Balık, chairman of the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters’ Association, said the weather event caused a major contraction in exports last year, while the current season has delivered a strong rebound.

Restored supply drives the increase

The figures suggest that restored physical availability, rather than price growth, was the main force behind the increase in export earnings. Based on the reported totals, average revenue was about $3,419 per tonne in 2026, compared with roughly $7,902 per tonne in the same period of 2025. These calculated averages can reflect differences in supply, product quality, destination mix, timing and contract terms; the source did not provide a price breakdown.

For growers, packers and exporters, the return of larger volumes allows fixed harvesting, sorting, cooling and logistics capacity to be used more fully. It also restores commercial opportunities that were limited when frost reduced the crop. Buyers, meanwhile, have access to considerably more Turkish fruit than during the unusually weak 2025 season.

Balık said Türkiye ranks first globally in cherry production and is among the world’s top three or four cherry-exporting countries. That production base gives the sector the capacity to return quickly to international markets when growing conditions improve, but the contrast between 2025 and 2026 also shows its exposure to weather during flowering.

Weather risk remains central

The recovery strengthens revenue for the Turkish cherry supply chain, but it does not remove the underlying production risk. A single frost episode during a sensitive growth stage was followed by a collapse in export availability, and the subsequent normalization produced an elevenfold volume increase from a low comparison base. For producers, processors, traders and overseas buyers, crop conditions and cold-chain execution will remain decisive for supply, quality and returns through future seasons.