Global Cherry Market: Rocketing Consumption in China Demand For Imports

The global cherry market increased gradually from 3,206 thousand tonnes in 2007 to 4,101 thousand tonnes in 2016, with only mild fluctuations over the period under review. According to market research conducted by IndexBox, overall, it expanded at an average annual rate of +2.8 from 2007 to 2016. In wholesale prices, global cherry market reached 5,979 million USD in 2016, fluctuating somewhat notably over the last five years. This figure reflects total revenue of producers and importers (excluding logistics costs, retail marketing costs, and retailers’ margins, which will be included in the final consumer price).

Turkey (824 thousand tonnes in 2016), followed by the U.S. (389 thousand tonnes), Russia (363 thousand tonnes), Iran (297 thousand tonnes), Ukraine (249 thousand tonnes) and Poland (213 thousand tonnes) were the countries with the highest cherry consumption, together comprising 59% of the total figure. The highest annual growth rates of cherries consumption from 2007 to 2016 were recorded in Turkey, with +6.3% per year, and Poland, with +6.7% per year, respectively. The other major consuming countries indicated only a modest growth pace of consumption; moreover, in Russia it declined by -1.5% annually over the period under review.

Sweet cherry and sour cherry are two main types of cherries on the world market. Sweet cherry is a seasonal berry that is consumed both fresh and frozen. Sour cherry is mainly processed and is used as an ingredient for frozen fruits, juice concentrates and jams or marmalade.

Turkey is the largest producer and consumer of cherries in the world. In this country, cherry is widely used for direct consumption as a food, and for the preparation of jams and confectionery. Volume of cherries consumption in Turkey is growing steadily, based mainly on their own production.

The US is the second-largest producer and consumer of cherries. Until the last decade, the US was the leader in the production of cherries. Average per capita consumption in the country is quite stable; however, the trend toward healthy eating and consuming vitamin-rich fruits contributes to a mild increase in consumption of cherries.

By contrast, the China's share in the market makes only 2% of the world's cherry consumption (according to 2016 data), with cherry per capita consumption in this country amounting to 0.1 kg/year in 2016, which remains one of the lowest in the world. However, the per capita consumption in China grew rapidly over the last nine years, expanding at the world’s greatest growth rate of +22.9% per year from 2007 to 2016.

The Chinese market presents good opportunities for growing consumption of cherries due to continued urbanization and westernization, which go along with the penetration of European food culture. The growing incomes are also expected to contribute to increased consumption of cherries in China. This increasing consumption in China could become a new growth driver for global cherry market in the medium term.

Thus, Asia, especially China, will become the fastest growing market for cherry consumption. In other countries, for which cherry is a habitual product, no significant increase in consumption is expected, although an increase in household incomes and the popularization of healthy eating will support a moderate increase in the consumption. The growth in consumption of processed cherries will be also facilitated by an increase in consumption of juices, jams, baked goods, frozen fruits and other commercial products made with cherries.

Therefore, global cherry market as a whole is projected to continue an upward consumption trend over the next nine years. The performance of the market is forecast to increase with an anticipated CAGR of +2.0% for the nine-year period from 2015 to 2025, which is expected to lead the market volume to 4.9 million tonnes by the end of 2025.

Cherries are a widely traded commodity, with the share of export in total global output being about 13% throughout 2007-2016. This high trade intensity is determined mainly by the substantial distances between some of the consuming countries and the main centers of cherry production.

In 2016, global exports of cherries reached 1,908 million USD, expanding at an average annual rate of growth of +9.7% from 2007 to 2016. The volume of global cherries exports amounted to 442 thousand tonnes in 2016, with an annual increase of +6.0% over the period under review.

In terms of global cherry exports, among all other countries three largest suppliers stand out: Chile (25% of the total exports in 2016), Turkey (18%) and the U.S. (17%). From 2007 to 2016, average annual rates of growth of cherries exports from these countries stood at +17.0%, +3.8% and +3.7%, respectively.

The share of Chile increased significantly from 10% in 2007 to 25% in 2016. At the same time, the shares of Turkey (-4 percentage points) and the U.S. (-4 percentage points) declined over the period under review. Therefore, this enables Chile to emerge as the leading supplier of cherries in the world and secure a sustainable market position.

On the other hand, China (109 thousand tonnes), Germany (70 thousand tonnes) and Russia (67 thousand tonnes) were the main destinations of cherries imports in 2016, together making up 52% of the total imports. Moreover, China indicated the highest rates of growth in terms of imports, with an average annual increase of +77.9%, thereby significantly strengthening its share in the global imports from 0.2% in 2007 to 23% in 2016.

In the immediate term, cherry will continue to be highly traded, fueled by increasing consumption, especially in China and other Asian countries. However, the annual growth could be restrained by softening growth of cherries manufacturing and increasing domestic demand in Turkey and some of the other major exporting countries.

Do you want to know more about the global cherry market? Get the latest trends and insight from our report. It includes a wide range of statistics on

• cherry market share
• cherry prices
• cherry industry
• cherry sales
• cherry market forecast
• cherry price forecast
• key cherry producers

Source: World: Cherries – Market Report. Analysis and Forecast to 2025