Apricots: Turkey misses out

April 21, 2017 at 9:30 AM , Der AUDITOR
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MALATYA. Turkish exports have so far failed to meet expectations. Buyers in Germany are, however, proving the big exception.

It gets better and better

The dried fruit market cannot complain about a lack of purchase interest, at least this is what the export figures suggest. On average, they are about 10% above the last year's value. With more than 8,400 mt, the USA is still the top-ranking importer, but has not quite reached the purchase volume of last year. In return, France and Germany have once more increased their imports of dried apricots from Turkey.

Measured in terms of the price trend, however, exports could definitely have been better, as the offers were cheaper this season than they had been in a long time. At this time last year, No. 2 dried apricots were about 40% more expensive at 4,150 USD/mt.

 

Turkish apricot exports

Country

2016/17

2015/16

Diff. PY

USA

8,411

10,004

-15.93%

France

5,841

4,969

17.55%

Germany

4,656

4,297

8.37%

Austria

4,656

4,297

8.37%

UK

3,911

4,074

-3.98%

Russia

3,884

5,582

-30.41%

Australia

3,612

2,465

46.54%

Brazil

2,789

2,031

37.31%

Poland

2,711

1,679

61.47%

Algeria

2,132

570

273.93%

Other

25,009

21,163

18.17%

Overall

67,613

61,129

10.61%

Source: Aegean Export Union

Black Sea Export Union


Price drops are possible

According to Turkish dried fruit traders, apricot farmers waited too long and now have to face the consequences. Now that the risk of frost has passed, prospects for the apricot crop are very good again this year, which is putting pressure on the prices for dried apricots. With 2,900 USD/mt FOB Mersin, prices have hit the season low again, after they had just slightly increased in the past few weeks.

Market players expect that the prices will drop further due to remaining stocks, so that a price reduction of at least 50-100 USD/mt should be possible in the next few weeks.

 

Dried apricots, Turkey

Size

USD/mt

EUR/mt

No. 2

2,900

2,706

No. 4

2,825

2,636

No. 6

2,650

2,473

Diced, 5x8 mm

2,000

1,867

FOB Mersin

Attached Files

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apricots no 2 price chart

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