Apricots: Turkey misses out
April 21, 2017 at 9:30 AM ,
Der AUDITOR
![](/images/news/cache/1347_landscape_large.jpg)
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 |