According to EastFruit analysts, Turkish apple exports in the 2022/23 season continue to lag significantly behind those in the 2021/22 season. As of the end of December 2022, Turkey was able to export 135 thousand tons of new crop apples, which is 6% less than the previous season.
However, is not so much the decline in total exports in the first five months of the 2022/23 season, but the monthly relative deterioration in export performance that attracted our attention. If in September and October 2022 exports of apples from Turkey even exceeded the figures for respective months of 2021, in November, exports were already 7%, and in December, 24% lower than in the respective months of 2021.
It is interesting to note that the main decrease in shipments of apples from Turkey is noted in the direction of India, which remains the main market for the Turkish apple in the current season. Turkey exported to India 25% or 10,000 tons less apples in the first five months of the current season than in 2021/22.
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Also, apple export shipments from Turkey to Syria and Libya fell quite sharply – by 31% and 37% respectively.
The largest increase in the exports of Turkish apples was noted in the direction of Saudi Arabia. This country, which in the first five months of the previous season did not buy any apple from Turkey at all, in 2022 bought 13.6 thousand tons of these fruits.
Also, a very sharp increase was observed in apple exports from Turkey to Russia – by 89% or 7.8 thousand tons. Most likely, the Turkish apples have become a replacement for the fresh apples from Moldova, which were banned by Russia. The exports of apples from Turkey to Iraq also increased notably – by 64% or 5 thousand tons in the first five months of the 2022/23 season.
