Turkish Apricot Update September 2019

• Exports in August were 6,411 tons, compared to 7,546 tons last year
• Average price for diced apricots was $2262, average price for whole apricots was $2720

The First shipment of new crop is in, although slightly below expectations. This can probably be due to Turkeys national holidays that occurred in the middle of August meaning some packers did not start processing new crop until the end of august when the national holidays were over.

News is in that prices for sulphured apricots have firmed $100 to $200 since the opening however have no stabilized as harvest yields were lighter than expected.

Much like the sulphured apricots the lira has also stabilized over the past few weeks, and inflation rates seem to be decreasing. The banking situation is also easing with serious packers having no problems obtaining export credits.

The shortage of natural and organic apricots has rather has disturbed the markets, and prices for both have risen sharply.

This shortage of natural apricots has been caused due to the past few years low prices. This low pricing was apparent due to a high number of blemishes in the crops that growers sought to disguise by making natural apricots. Prices for natural apricots subsequently fell below the sulphured prices. However, as there were very few blemishes on this crop, growers had no incentive to make naturals. In the case of organics, the main organic growing areas of Dogansehir and Akcadag were affected by frosts.