ANKARA: In Turkey’s Mut district, early apricot varieties are grown, hence their apricots are amongst the first on the domestic and export markets. The demand for Mut’s apricots is increasing every year. This year, the district is aiming to export 35,000 tons of apricots and expecting to earn 45 million from this. The President of Mut’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Mehmet Ali Acar, explained that 56,000 acres of apricots have been planted this year and the yield forecast is around 70,000 tons.
Most of the exports are sent to Iraq, Northern Cyprus and European countries, said Acar, ‘’Now the Ninfa variety of apricot is being sold to exporters for between 2TL to 2.20TL. Trintina apricots are sold for between 3-3.50TL. As the uptake from the Middle East market isn’t high, export apricot varieties are bought for between 1.50-1.80TL. Because of the frost that hit on March 18th, we are expecting yields of around 65,000-70,000 tons.’’ The exporter Tevfik Yilmaz, said they they are exporting 40 to 50 tons of apricots daily, “At the moment we are sending apricots to the Iraqi market. Prices vary according to quality. We starting exporting quickly this year,” he said.
