The apricot orchards of Alanar are still young, but the Turkish fresh produce exporter does expect to harvest more than a thousand tons annually, says Yigit Gokyigit, commercial coordinator for Alanar.
“We expect our apricot season to start in mid-May. We grow more than 1,000 tonnes of harvest per year. Our special apricots are grown in our own orchards, in the Manisa region. This year, we experienced frost in this area, which may have some effect on the total volume of the crop this season. Last year, we harvested over 1,200 tons of apricots. Since we still have young trees in the orchard, we expect volumes to increase every year. As a result, we should be reaching a harvest of 2,000 tons in the next couple of years. This year, due to the frost which occurred in the region, we do not expect to harvest more volume than last year.”
The focus for the apricot season will be on the European markets, Gokyigit explains: “Alanar has had continuous business partners for its variety of apricots for years, especially in European countries. The majority of our customers are based in Germany and Central Europe, and these clients wouldn’t mind having all of the company’s crops. We also receive huge demand from other importers in Europe and Middle East.”
Despite the huge inflation in the European markets, Goyigit doesn’t expect consumers to leave the apricots on the shelves this season: “We already see huge demand from our existing customers, so we do not expect any negative surprises when it comes to demand. One of the reason that apricots will not be affected by the current economic situation in Europe, might be that apricot is a fruit that has competitive prices compared to other fresh fruits in the market. I expect prices to be similar to last year. Since we’re a company that is involved in the entire growing-packing-exporting process, from harvest to delivery of our customers’ warehouse, we have control of majority of the cost and do not experience dramatical unexpected costs.”
“We expect to harvest larger-size apricots this year. Our business partners are willing to pay more for larger sizes. We expect a great season. Even though the crop volume will not be more than last year due to the frosts, we do expect to have more larger sizes this year. Our apricots are unique and have peerless flavor that is very-well-known by our business partners,” Gokyigit concludes.
For more information:
Yigit Gokyigit
Alanar
Mobile: +90 549 804 87 56
Email: [email protected]
www.alanar.com.tr