The citrus season in Turkey has been quite challenging this year. Although the weather has been quite nice, the produce is currently very expensive, says Mustafa Arslan, owner of MDA Agricultural Products. “For Turkish exporters, the citrus season hasn’t been too bad, but not great either. Prices are very high at the moment, we’re actually seeing the highest price-levels at the field for the past decade. Right now, we’re handling Valencia oranges, Riored grapefruits, Lamas lemons and mandarins. Although the season is ongoing, demand is very low. Last year demand was a lot higher than what we’re seeing at the moment. The seasons will finish at the end of April-mid to may, with the exception of lemons, which are expected to finish at the end of March.”
Although volumes are similar to last year, the season is worse overall. “Prices might be high, but the costs have increased significantly as well. So profits have actually decreased if we compare it to the situation of last year. At the start of the season we were dealing with smaller calibers due to less rain falling,” Arslan explains. “However, the weather has been mostly clear for the past few months, so we’ve been able to harvest all produce and finish most of the harvest. I’d say people have been able to harvest about 80 per cent of the total produce. The clear weather is also an advantage for the future, as we don’t expect a lot of damages due to heavy frosts.”
The citrus from MDA Agro is exported to 24 countries, spread between four continents. Expanding is quite difficult for the company, says Arslan: “With the exception of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, we export to all other European countries. We also export to the Middle East and the Far East countries. Finally our produce is also sent to North America. At this point there is no reason to enter any new markets, as we can only take the orders from our existing partners as it is. We’re limited to about 10,000 tons per season. Our advantage is that we can fully focus on increasing the quality of our produce all season long and our customers are happy for that. And when they’re happy; we’re happy!”
Like the rest of the world, the corona-virus is a hot topic for the Turkish exporters. “The Corona-virus spreading rapidly, and although we don’t encounter too many issues now, this could become a serious problem when we reach the end of the season. If the virus keeps spreading, I expect travel to stop and the consumption of foreign produce to decrease all over the world. This is why we’re going to try and finish the citrus season a little early this year.” Arslan concludes.
For more information:
Mustafa Arslan
MDA Agricultural Products
Mobile: +90 541 348 39 09
Email: mustafa@mda-agro.com
www.mda-agro.com