Hot weather leads to cherry oversupply in Italy; Turkish, Greek and Spanish competition intensifies
High temperatures in Italy accelerated cherry ripening, causing an overlap with later harvests from Puglia and early arrivals from Trentino, resulting in a temporary oversupply and increased competition from Turkey and Greece.
In the 2026 season, Italian cherry production was strongly affected by abnormal heat, with temperatures in the Vignola region reaching 32-33°C already in late May. This led to an accelerated ripening of cherries, causing the Vignola harvest to coincide with later Puglia volumes and early Trentino harvests. The overlap resulted in a concentrated surge of Italian cherries on the market within a few days, adding to pressure from full-scale returns of Turkish and Greek cherries.
Agrintesa, a major Italian group, reported a record output of over 3,000 tonnes of IGP-certified Vignola cherries. The operational challenge was managing high daily peaks of intake, selection, and sales, as the compressed season reduced storage and marketing flexibility to just 36–48 hours. In contrast to the previous year, when frost in Turkey and Greece limited competition and allowed Italian cherries to achieve very high prices, the 2026 campaign faced a much more competitive scenario.
On the retail side, large supermarket chains in Poland, such as Lidl and Biedronka, continued to offer imported cherries from Turkey and Greece even during the peak of the Polish domestic season. This indicates strong availability and competitive pricing from these two supplier countries in the region, impacting the market share of local producers in Poland.
On wholesale markets, small volumes of Spanish cherries were reported entering the international market. For example, in East Asia, Spanish cherries of the Sofia variety packed in 2-kg cartons sold for around €20.3 per box (¥160), while American (Washington) cherries fetched higher prices at approximately €64–71 per box (¥450–500). Chinese cherries were the most competitively priced at €15–18 per box (¥100–120). These prices reflect ongoing international competition and may influence pricing dynamics in European import markets.
Trade platform data for Week 28 of 2026 showed that sweet cherry sales dropped by half compared to the previous week in Eastern European trading, despite increased product availability from Türkiye and Greece. This suggests that the rapid influx of supply may have temporarily outpaced demand, further intensifying price competition among supplier countries.
Material prepared by the editorial team of fresh-market.info, editor Artur Spiker