Last season, Malatya apricots were sold to 113 countries from Malatya, resulting in $375 million.
Last season (1 August 2021-31 July 2022), 80 thousand 720 tons of dried apricots were exported to 113 countries from Malatya, where a significant part of the world’s dried apricot production is made, bringing $375 million to the country’s economy.
Apricots grown in Malatya, where approximately 9 million of the 22 million apricot trees in Turkiye are located, sweetened the palates of the world this year as well.
After “Antep baklava” and “Aydin fig”, Turkiye’s third product to receive geographical indication in the European Union, Malatya apricot continues to make people smile with its export income.
According to the information compiled from Malatya Commodity Exchange data, $375 million were obtained by selling Malatya apricots to 113 countries last season.
While most exports were made to the USA with 11 thousand tons last season, this country was followed by France with 6 thousand 942 tons, Germany with 6 thousand 32 tons, the United Kingdom with 4 thousand 626 tons and Brazil with 3 thousand 181 tons.
Ramazan Ozcan, Chairman of Malatya Commodity Exchange, said that they completed the dried apricot export season as of 31 July.
Stating that they left behind an important season in the export of dried apricots, Ozcan stated that they have experienced an important period in terms of finding the place it deserves in the world for a product with high economic income and brand value.
Ozcan said, “Even if there is a partial decrease in the amount of exports compared to previous years, there is an increase of approximately $35 million in our income. This is a very important development. Malatya is proud of the fact that only dried apricots in the dried fruit group, which provides a total income of $1.5 billion to the country’s economy today, bring in $375 million. We are about to reach our target of 100 thousand tons of export and $500 million.”
Expressing that the USA is one of the most important buyers of dried apricots, Ozcan said, “Americans love apricots. We are also proud of protecting our exports to the USA every year. We exported 11 thousand tons of dried apricots to the USA and generated an income of $57 million 317 thousand. We are glad that the USA is among the important buyers.”
The target is to export 10 thousand tons to China.
Ramazan Ozcan stated that China is also a very important market for them and said:
“All of the exports to China are natural apricots, that is, the product called dried apricots among the people. We exported 4,925 tons of dried apricots to China, and in return, we earned $15 million in revenue. If we continue, we hope to export 10 thousand tons of dried apricots this year. If we can achieve this in natural apricots, it will be a very important incentive for the production of really natural products. In addition, we export a significant amount to European countries. We catch the highest figures in EU countries with France and Germany. We are also fighting hard to protect the European market and increase consumption there.”
Source: Trthaber / Translated by Irem Yildiz