Mixed early season results for Turkish stonefruit exports - FreshFruitPortal.com

Mixed early season results for Turkish stonefruit exports

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Mixed early season results for Turkish stonefruit exports

European countries slashed their imports of early season Turkish stonefruit this year, while Iraq took up the slack and overtook Russia as the leading destination market. shutterstock_116800546 apricots on tree - sq

Turkish Statistical Institute figures show shipments rose by close to 5% year-on-year to reach 37,262 metric tons (MT) until the end of May, with lower volumes of cherries and plums offset by upticks for apricots, peaches and nectarines.

Cherry shipments were down 70% at 1,755MT, however the bulk of this fruit is usually sold in June and July with a 2014 total season volume of 49,758MT. Unlike for the rest of the stonefruit category, Germany is generally the leading market for Turkish cherries with a third of the market share.

Apricots were the key early season player with volume rising 18% to 16,883MT, nectarine shipments jumped 33% to 10,825MT and peach exports rose 22% to 4,276MT.

Meanwhile, plum exports were down 6% for the period at 3,523MT.

The shift in market distribution comes despite Iraq's internal conflict and incentives in Russia coming from the ban on EU-grown fruit.

Nonetheless, Russia's share still rose to 37% from a previous two-year average of 33%, but Iraq surpassed it as the leading buyer hitting the 47% mark.

Neighboring Bulgaria is normally one of Turkey's top stonefruit markets, but early signs showed an 11-fold drop in exports to the Balkan country for the recent period, while Germany's purchases were 4.5 times lower.

Romania, the Ukraine, Belarus, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and France also reduced their imports substantially.

In the Middle East, exports to neighboring Syria more than doubled to reach 937MT, Saudi Arabia-bound exports were up 80% at 529MT, while the UAE's purchases dwindled down 11-fold to 15MT.

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

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