It's a very rough season for Turkish apple exporters, and it's all to do with the weather conditions the country had to endure earlier in the year, says Uğur Aydın, Deputy General Manager for Turkish fresh produce exporter Darya Nature: "This year's apple production in Turkey is 70 per cent lower than in previous years. This is because the agricultural frost in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey negatively impacted production. Overall, weather conditions caused a significant decrease in apple production."
© Darya Nature
According to Aydın, it's so troublesome to meet the domestic demand for apples that the Government has decided to put a stop to exports altogether. "Currently, demand for apples is quite high. There is particularly high demand from India and European countries. However, due to the insufficient apple production, it is currently difficult to meet domestic demand. Therefore, the government has decided to halt apple exports for now."
© Darya Nature
As one can expect, with the severely lower availability of apples, the prices have skyrocketed as a result: "Prices have been positively affected by the low production. Prices have basically doubled compared to the previous season. We do expect prices to decrease for the remainder of the apple season, due to the government's suspension of exports. Farmers who suffered significant losses due to the agricultural frost will face difficulties in restarting production. We expect financially strong producers to gain price advantages in the coming period," Aydın concludes.
© Darya Nature
For more information:
Uğur Aydın
Darya Nature
Tel: +90 537 524 07 62
[email protected]
www.daryanature.com