Low sour cherry harvest expected across Europe this year

By: STA Date: 2025. 07. 01. 10:30

Experts are predicting significant crop losses in sour cherry producing countries in Europe and Asia (except Uzbekistan and Germany) by 2025. In Poland, frosts caused significant damage to sour cherry orchards in late April and early May.

(Photo: Pixabay)

In Poland, the sour cherry harvest – following last year’s weak 110,000-ton harvest (USDA) – may only be around 80,000 tons in 2025. According to experts, due to the unfavorable weather in Serbia (frosts and snowfall in April and May), a fraction of last year’s 136.8 thousand-ton harvest is expected this year. According to KSH data, Hungary’s sour cherry harvest ranged between 55 and 92 thousand tons between 2014 and 2023, and in 2024 it increased by 13 percent compared to the previous year to 62.6 thousand tons. Experts say the 2025 harvest will fall significantly short of the multi-year average and last year’s volume.

Hungary is the world’s largest exporter of fresh sour cherries

According to data from the Central Statistical Office, the foreign trade surplus was 4.64 thousand tons in 2024: 9.19 thousand tons of exports were compared to 445 tons of imports. Hungary is also a net exporter of frozen sour cherries, with a foreign trade surplus of 3.21 thousand tons in 2024: exports amounted to 4.10 thousand tons, imports to 890.9 tons. In the first four months of this year, frozen sour cherry exports decreased by 9 percent to 953.2 tons compared to the same period last year. 26 percent fewer (363.5 tons) of frozen sour cherries were shipped to Belgium, while 12 percent more (161.4 tons) were shipped to Austria. According to AKI PÁIR data, domestic sour cherries appeared on the Budapest Wholesale Market in the 23rd week at a price of 2,750 forints/kilogram. The producer price of sour cherries was 1,888 forints/kilogram in the 23rd–26th week of 2025, which is 145 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year.

AKI PÁIR