Summerfruit New Zealand chairman Gary Bennetts, of Roxburgh, said he and other growers in the Teviot Valley had fewer cherries than normal.
His Dawson cherries were so scarce they were "almost non-existent".
"The weather has been holding the fruit back and although we've seen some movement in the last couple of days, which have been warm and sunny, we are scratching to find enough cherries to fill orders.
"This week I would say cherry supplies will be pretty tight but as next week rolls on growers should start taking on more staff as cherries ripen and harvesting starts in earnest," Mr Bennetts said.
However, 60km away, Cromwell cherry growers Kevin Jackson and Michael Jones said the weather had been good to their fruit and they had plenty of cherries for domestic and international markets.
Mr Jones said staff had been picking early varieties for export during the past week, and he was confident about the remainder of the season.
Mr Jackson said domestic markets were still demanding fruit, which was unusual so close to Christmas.
"We are sending cherries to Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill tonight, and usually markets stop sourcing [Christmas fruit] the day before Christmas Eve because they like to clear the decks," he said.
Mr Jackson said he could not remember a year with so little rain at the time cherries were ripe.
He said the limited rain which had fallen on his fruit did so in the evening when temperatures were cooler and therefore crops were not damaged.
At Earnscleugh, near Alexandra, cherry grower Harry Roberts said his fruit was probably "in between" that from the Cromwell Basin and Teviot Valley.
He had got through the bulk of his early varieties for the domestic market and was on schedule to start exporting next week.
Despite some variation in supply, cherry prices have remained steady, with top-grade fruit selling for about $20 a kg in shops.
Cherry growers were generally making between $10-$14 a kg.
