Dried figs: symbolic sale of the new crop

Mundus-Agri: At the Commodity Exchange in Aydin, the first dried figs from the 2022 crop have already been symbolically sold. Production is starting slowly, and prices should be fixed in the coming days.

Figs are important for Aydin.

A meeting was held at the Commodity Exchange in Aydin to discuss the 2022/2023 dried fig season. In his speech, the chairman of the exchange, Fevzi Çondu, announced that around 71,250 mt of dried figs had been registered last year, of which 60,104 mt came from Aydin. Çondur stressed that Aydin ranks first in the world in fig production and export, and said "In our country, the dried fig export realized in 2021 was 59.333 mt, and 51.170 mt of dried figs were exported from our province. Renewable energy source cold storage, built by our Exchange and operated by ATB Aydın Cold Storage, has stored approximately 6.000 mt of dried figs since the time it started operating".

The Director of Agriculture and Forestry of Aydin Province, Ahmet Ökdem, stated that there are more than 7 million fig trees in the entire province and that 31% of these areas are under organic cultivation. According to Öktem, Aydin's production this year could amount to 70,000 mt of dried figs. Moreover, the harvesting work has started by now. Taking into account that Aydin covers about 85% of Turkey's dried fig production, Öktem estimates the nationwide yield at 80,000-85,000 mt. 

From the Nazilli area, the first dried figs of Aydin this season have already been delivered to the commodity exchange. These were sold at a symbolic price of TRY 400/kg. According to market players, the exchange prices for the remaining raw material positions from the 2021 crop are still at TRY 70/kg and the export prices are also unchanged. However, this commodity is virtually no longer being traded and traders expect to be able to submit offers for new crop by the end of next week at the latest.

Export business remains stable.

The export business currently consists primarily of the processing of current contracts. Weekly exports recently stood at 702 mt, compared to 673 mt in the same week last year. In total, 63,427 mt of dried figs and dried fig products have been exported since the beginning of this season, about 1,800 mt less than this time last year.