It’s been a strong start of the Turkish stone fruit season, Akin Soyleyen, marketing manager for Turkish exporter Aksun, states: “Looking at the first weeks of the Turkish stone fruit season, this year has started very promising. The weather was significantly cooler than it had been in the past few years around this time of year. The cooler weather did push the start of the season two-to-three weeks forward, but the supply has been stable and the quality is good thanks to the stable temperatures. We have started the season with our apricots in April and we continue with flat peaches and nectarines, black plums and most importantly, our beloved sugar apricots. The crunchy and sweet texture of the sugar apricots makes it a very desirable product amongst customers.”
Thanks to strong demand and larger production, the expected sales figures for the Turkish stone fruit are expected to increase, says Soyleyen. “The overall volumes of our stone fruit are larger than last year, especially on niche items like the flat peach and nectarines. These fruits are growing in popularity and consumers are beginning to appreciate the different aroma and taste resulting in bigger demands. This season we’re expecting an overall increase of 30 to 40 per cent in sales, if the weather conditions allow it.”
Prices have increased as a result of the global inflation, but Soyleyen doesn’t think the higher prices have had an impact on the sales this season, so far: “The growers has taken their fair share of the global inflation and the highly volatile environment in terms of demand, causing their costs to rise significantly. When we compare prices with last year ; we see an overall increase of 14 to 18 per cent for stone fruits. This has not had an impact on the sales for our produce, as the stone fruit demand has been strong from the beginning of the season. This would also be caused by the severe weather conditions in Europe for stone fruit production.”
For more information:
Akin Soyleyen
Aksun
Tel: +90 324 234 41 90
Mobile: +90 532 590 75 92
Email: akin@aksun.com.tr
www.aksun.com.tr/en/