The Turkish citrus production for next year could be affected by the recent frost in several Turkish regions, says Merve Sönmezler, Director of Turkish fruit exporter Sönmezler Agrotar: "Up until the frost happened, the final stretch of the Turkish citrus season was actually not bad, honestly. The only real challenge was dealing with the price competition from the Egyptian citrus. However, the recent frost had a huge impact on citrus production in the Cukurova region. About 80 per cent of the plants were damaged, with the young plants being damaged for over 90 per cent. The temperature went down to minus 7 degrees Celsius during the night and back up to the plus during the day, for four to five days."
The Sönmezler team during Fruit Logistica in Berlin.
The fruits affected by the weather conditions are not just limited to citrus and cherries, as other stone fruits and figs have also been impacted, Sönmezler explains. "Shifting to stone fruits, in our Cukurova region, excluding greenhouse production, we can say 100% of the early stone fruits are affected by frost. The late stone fruits, which had not yet blossomed, were not affected. In Bursa city, the peach and fig production volume is affected by up to 30 to 40 per cent, depending on the region. Inegol has been the city affected the most by the frosts, but Iznik and the centre of Turkey are doing much better. According to our experts, the damages will be recovered through good nutrition programs, although minimal shape defects can be observed on the crops."
Over the past few years, European markets have started to import more and more cherries from Turkish exporters: "Doing a little investigation, Germany is the main market for the Turkish cherry product, as 54,5 per cent of exported cherries were shipped to Germany in 2024. In second place, we see that Russia follows Germany for the cherry exports, as their market share is 20 per cent. In Europe, Romania and Finland are emerging markets for Turkish cherries. Exported quantities for those countries have increased consecutively by 112 per cent and 60 per cent over the last two years," Sönmezler concludes.
For more information:
Merve Sönmezler
Sönmezler Agrotar Tarim Gida San. VE TİC. A.Ş.
Tel: +90 533 402 8011
Email: [email protected]
www.sonmezleragro.com