Although last year apple exports from Turkey to India were booming, currently trade has slowed down significantly. Alper Kerim, owner of Turkish fruit exporter Demir Fresh Fruits, states this has to do with the Indian market being flooded: “The demand is too low to export apples to India at the moment. This has mostly to do with Iranian apples and apples from Kashmir flooding the market. It’s not a great situation and this low demand could continue until the end of March.”
Next to the low demand, there’s been another issue making it difficult to get the produce where it needs to go. “The Holiday season isn’t a positive for apple exports to India, but it hasn’t been the major factor affecting our trade. This role was played by the weather problems in India. Floods occurred in the South of India last week, which was a disaster for the apple market, as products are not easily transported during these weather issues.”
Despite the slow demand at this point, Kerim is sure he’ll be able to sell most of the apples they have in stock this season. “At Demir Fresh Fruits, we’re still confident about our apples in stock and we believe the best quality stocks are found in our storage. We’re so confident, that we’ll be able to keep our products going until July, meaning shipments will start even in May 2024. But not all of the stocks can be keep in cold stores until March because of their bad quality.”
The slow demand could cause issues for exports that aren’t as stable, having banked big on the current apple season: “I’m expecting slow business until March, maybe even until April, because of other apple origins that have already arrived in the Indian market. However, if the financial power is good for an exporter, they should be able to survive until the end of the season. However, for exporters that are not as stable financially, the fact that demand will not be as strong as last year could become a real problem for them,” Kerim concludes.
For more information:
Alper Kerim
Demir Fresh Fruits
Tel: +90 532 514 2080
Email: [email protected]
www.dff.com.tr