The Turkish pomegranate harvest is close to completion. According to Oguzhan Erdogan, Europe sales director for Turkish fruit exporter Ana Fruit, the start of the season was rather busy for them: “The pomegranate harvest started in the last week of September and we are now approaching the end. After harvest, we pre-graded our pomegranates and stored them in Modified Atmosphere bags. The beginning of the season was rather busy and demand was high. The harvest is almost completed now and the phase storage is starting. Since demand was high during harvest time, the recent few weeks are going slow.”
Erdogan states that they expect no change in their main export market this year, with the European continent having their main focus. “Our main market for pomegranates is Europe, as about 80 per cent of our volume is exported there. This won’t change for this season, as we’re seeing EU being our primary export market. That said, at the same time we’re also aiming to improve our market share in other countries.”
As Turkey has been dealing with extreme heat this year, problems with irrigation came to light, which in turn had an impact on production. Erdogan explains: “In recent years, global warming and the increase in droughts have generally negatively affected agricultural irrigation. This year, the hot weather and the inability to provide the desired irrigation caused the size of the products to decrease. Due to heavy rains during the pomegranate flowering period, fruit flower set was low and the total production in tons was below our expectations.”
Prices for pomegranates are higher than year than last year, as costs have increased significantly as well. “This season, pomegranate prices were doubled compared to the previous season. In addition, we are faced with more costs in labor, fuel and packaging. As a result, our prices in the markets remain higher than we expected. We think that the pomegranate volumes that are being stores in warehouses this season are generally lower than the previous year. If there is demand like in previous seasons, we hope the season will still go well,” Erdogan concludes.
For more information:
Kubra Nur Erdogan
Ana Fruit Gıda San. Ve Tic. Ltd. Sti
Tel: +90 246 606 0660
Mobile: +90 534 838 4232
Email: [email protected]
www.anafruit.com.tr