Apples from Turkey are in season again, with the first Gala shipments being sent out already. One Turkish company has high ambitions, as the goal is to increase its apple exports by 100%. As their own two brands are gaining popularity in India, the company is confident it will achieve the goals that have been set.
Turkish apple exporter Demir Fresh Fruits has had a pretty good season last year, having reached a milestone. According to owner Alper Kerim, the company aims to increase their apple export volumes by 100% this year: “The 2020-2021 apple season was a milestone for our company, because we reached to total 340 containers of apples shipments to different 12 countries. Our main market was India and we managed to ship 262 containers of apples shipments to Indian market alone. This new season has just started with the Gala varieties and others will soon follow. Our season target is to ship 750 containers of apples this year, with 600 of those being sent to the Indian market. This means we’re aiming to double our exports of apples overall this year.”
According to Kerim, the next few years could prove challenging, as the company is feeling the effects of climate change in the cultivation of apples. “We’re noticing that the global climate change is having a significant effect on agricultural activities every year. The amount of rain is decreasing and temperatures are rising, which hurts the apple production as well. Too much sunny weather will impact the color of apples. While this is a positive, the apple trees can’t grow as well as they should when there’s a lack of water, which will negatively impact the shelf life of the apples. Keeping the shelf life that clients are accustomed to will be the main challenges in the upcoming years, as this problem will grow year-on-year.”
Demir Fresh Fruits packs two of its own brands, which are rapidly gaining popularity in India, Kemir explains: “Just like last year, our main market for the upcoming season will be India, where our brands DeBa and Chosen are in a good place right now. We pack both brands ourselves and there is actually too much demand. We separate grades not only with color and quality in mind, but also the shape of the apple plays a role in which colored box we’ll put it in. Long shape apples are actually very popular and in demand in India, which is why we pack long shaped Premium apples into our black cartons, which will then be branded as DeBa or Chosen.”
As production costs in Turkey have increased, the price has risen as well. Kerim states that the increased costs are actually still higher than the price increase itself. “We’ve only just begun with the Gala shipments and prices are almost 10 per cent higher than they were last season. This has to do with increase production costs, which are actually more than 10 per cent higher, but we can’t include the entire price jump in our selling prices, or we’d be at risk of losing the markets for Turkish apples.”
“According to WAPA there’ll be 10 per cent higher production this year. Poland will have too much quantity, as well as Iran and both are our competitors in the Indian market. There’ll be some challenges all over the world, but I believe in the quality of our brands to put us ahead of the curve. As stated, we aim to increase our export volumes by 100% and are confident in our ability to reach this goal.” Kerim concludes.
For more information:
Alper Kerim
Demir Fresh Fruits
Tel: +90 532 514 2080
Email: alper@dff.com.tr
www.dff.com.tr