Tonnes of cherries in Bulgaria’s Kyustendil may remain on the trees unpicked

The price of cherries in shops and markets remains high and at the same time tonnes of fruit in Kyustendil, a major cherry growing area in Bulgaria, may remain on the trees due to lack of buyers. In addition to the weaker harvest this year, because of the bad weather the pickers are demanding higher wages. Orchard owners also report an increase in the cost of chemicals and fertilisers. They say their return may be poor because of the current sales prices.

In Kyustendil region, cherries are mainly grown for processing. Forecasts this year are that out of about 17,000 decares of cherry plantations, one third will remain on the trees, unpicked. One of the reasons is that the processing stations have already filled their capacity and are returning a large proportion of growers.

In an effort to get bigger amounts of cherries, growers are waiting until the fruit is fully ripe and plump, but processors are only buying small fruit.

And while some have nowhere to sell the overripe fruit, other fruit growers have calculated that the sales price cannot cover the cost for production of one kg of cherries.

"Given the price, pickers want – 0,70, even 0,80 BGN. At a selling price of 1.10, 1.20, some smaller producers say that they will not harvest their produce, because they cannot cover the costs of the harvest itself, not to mention that the price of chemicals and fertilisers has risen by two to three fold so the cost of the cherry is very high for some varieties," said Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Sotirov - Deputy Director of the Institute of Agriculture in Kyustendil.

"The sales price is maybe by 10% up, compared to last year. The price is not good, but if we harvest the cherries, it will still be good if they do not remain unpicked. This is the business that feeds our families, if we harvest everything, we will manage somehow," said Ivaylo Borisov, a cherry grower.

Because of the lack of markets for the cherries and the small profit, in recent years, many fruit growers in Kyustendil sell their plots or uproot the trees.