The Turkish apple export seems to have slowed down slightly compared to when the season started, says Okan Imancer, co-founder and export manager for Turkish apple exporter The Fresh Apple: “After a promising start with Gala apples, the current movement for Turkish apples is quite slow for Red Delicious, compared to the last two months. As India is the major market for Turkish apple exporters, any changes in demand in the Indian market affects the supply in Turkey. Although there are small movements in other markets, there is no significant development at the moment. Thankfully, the domestic market, especially the national supermarkets, is somewhat remedying the stagnation in exports.”
Other markets are also seeing slower movement at this point in the season, Imancer explains. “Russia, one of our important export markets after India, has not yet put through the orders we expected. There is a slow movement for Iraq and Libya, and our exports to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and some African countries continue, albeit at a limited level. To summarize briefly, we can clearly say that the Turkish apple market is now shaped according to the demand in India. However, this can be different for other Turkish exporters.”
As it’s currently an election year in Turkey, Imancer expects input costs to remain more expensive than previous years, as exchange rates will remain suppressed: “Exporters will see a big increase in the prices of raw materials. The food inflation rate in Turkey has exceeded double digit figures since last year. This increase in food inflation is not fully compensated by the increase in exchange rates, causing many Turkish products, including apples, to be more expensive than the products of competitors, and compared to previous years. The year 2024 is an election year for Turkey and an important election will be held in May. My opinion is that the current government will continue to suppress the exchange rates until the elections and during the apple season, Turkish apples will be more expensive than in previous years due to the costs.”
It's not just the exchange rates that will have an impact on the increasing prices. Imancer emphasizes that storage costs will now be calculated in the export prices of apples as well. “There’s been an increase in apple prices compared to the first weeks of the apple harvest two months ago. The main reason for this is that cold storage costs are now being added to apple prices and many farmers have now sold their apples to the merchants. As a result, these merchants naturally reflect their profits on apple prices,” he concludes.
