Good year for apples and pears in Turkey

Turkey is set for a good year (July 2015-June 2016) for apples and pears as production recovers – up 21% and 37% respectively – after a substantial drop the last year, says a recent USDA GAIN report. Apple production is expected to be 2.54 million tons and pear production 395,000 million tons.

Table grape production, however, is expected to be down 16% to 1.88 million tons due to frost damage in the Aegean region in the spring of 2015.

Middle Eastern countries (namely Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt), Bulgaria and Russia are the top export destination for Turkish deciduous fruits. Turkey’s exports of all such fruits increased to Russia in MY 2014 due to Russia’s import ban on European products and the increase was especially substantial in apples (from 319 to 11,848 tons) even though there was an overall decrease in apple exports as a result of decreased production, the report says.

Turkey’s exports of apples and pears are predicted to increase this marketing year due to increased production figures and the eventual decrease in prices, but its grape exports are expected to drop more than 20% and imports are expected to increase accordingly.

Image: the Turkish pear variety Deveci
Source: Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report on Turkey “Fresh Deciduous Fruit Annual”