Citrus fruit growers have met in Dortyol district of Hatay, a city located in southern border of Turkey to determine the sales prices for the upcoming season.
In the meetings, growers have agreed on a base price of 0.20 USD per kg for citrus fruits, taking into account that last year some growers had to sell their products at 6 cent per kg loss.
The meeting was attended by numerous cooperative chairmen in the area as there are 25,000 hectares of citrus fruits production area in the region.
Speaking on behalf of the all cooperatives who attended the meeting, Dortyol Citrus Fruit Growers Association Chairman Haci Ibrahim Secer: “We have calculated the cost per 1,000 square meter and it is around 750 USD. Also it is important to note that it takes 5 years for a grower to start receiving products from citrus fruit orchards. The productivity varies significantly from grower to grower but it is between 3 to 9 tons per 1,000 square meters. Taking everything into account, the cost price of one kg of a citrus fruit is around 0.20 USD.
"We hope that the citrus fruit harvest season will be profitable for all of our growers and that they can earn what they have deserved. “
With the harvest season starting in citrus fruits all around Turkey, lemon prices have started to decline rapidly after skyrocketing in August up to 2 USD per kg. Recently lemon prices dropped to 1 USD per kg however consumers still believe that it should be lower. Lemon prices vary between 0.20 USD and 0.30 USD in Mersin, one of the main lemon production regions. Mersin is responsible for nearly 65 % of lemon production in Turkey. Growers from Mersin had produced 614,000 tons of lemons and was the top lemon growing city in the entire Turkey.
Wholesalers predict that lemon prices will go down as low as 0.5 USD per kg and it can even hit 0.15 USD per kg level if there is not enough demand in export market.
Turkey Association of Chambers of Agriculture Chairman Semsi Bayraktar also agreed that the prices will go even much lower in the near future. Semsi Bayraktar: “ The prices went down by 59 % at growers compared to previous month from 0.60 USD to 0.25 USD per kg. With harvest starting in a lot of production areas, we expect the prices to decline even further by 25 – 30 %.“
