Dried Fruit Industry Unites Around Its Targets

The Turkish dried fruit sector, a world leader in production and exports, brought together more than 120 participants representing the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Chambers and Exchanges, Research Institutes, and Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Directorates at a "Dried Fruit Workshop" to sustainably increase exports of traditional export products—seedless dried grapes, dried figs and dried apricots—where it holds global leadership. The dried fruit sector determined its strategies for 2024 export targets. Ege Dried Fruits and Products Exporters Association Chairman Mehmet Ali Işık stated, "As the dried fruit sector, in 2023 we achieved 483 thousand tonnes of exports, generating 1.6 billion dollars in export revenue for our country, and maintained our world leadership in production and exports in 2023 as well. Of our total 2023 exports, 1.14 billion dollars came from seedless dried grape, dried fig and dried apricot exports. Seedless dried grape exports accounted for 29 percent of our total exports, dried apricots 25 percent and dried figs 17 percent. While European countries, our largest export market, held a 62 percent market share in our dried fruit exports, our exports to markets such as Japan, the USA, China and Brazil also increased."

We made a successful start to 2024

Chairman Işık said, "Sixty percent of Turkey's dried fruit exports are conducted through our Association. Approximately 960 million dollars in dried fruit exports were achieved in 2023. We made a successful start to 2024. Over a 25-day period, our exports rose from 50 million dollars to 69 million dollars, a 37 percent increase. Over the last 12 months, our exports reached 978 million dollars. Our target by the end of 2024 as the Aegean Region is to reach an export level of 1.1 billion dollars. We have set our nationwide target at 1.8 billion dollars. Turkey alone performs 32 percent of global dried grape exports. In 2023, from 255 thousand tonnes of grape exports, we earned 465 million dollars, an 8 percent increase compared to the previous year."

We conducted lobbying activities with the European Union

Mehmet Ali Işık continued, "Dried fig, one of Turkey's prestige products and considered a sacred fruit in all Abrahamic religions, generated 271 million dollars in revenue in 2023, an 11 percent increase compared to the previous year, from 70,328 tonnes of exports. Turkey's dried apricot export volume decreased 7 percent compared to the previous year to 71 thousand tonnes, yet our export revenue increased 1 percent to 405 million dollars. In 2023, we worked in close cooperation with the relevant ministries to increase the production volume and quality of our products, and conducted lobbying activities with our ministries, the international organizations of which we are members, and the European Union to find solutions to the problems our members face both domestically and abroad."

We launched our Turkish Dried Fruits URGE project

Chairman Işık, noting that they continue their work with organizations such as FRUCOM observer membership and INC on both national and international platforms, continued as follows: "We participated in the FRUCOM meeting held in Brussels in October and the European Trade Meeting organized by Hamburg Exchange in November representing our Association. During the past year, we launched our Turkish Dried Fruits URGE project and applied to the Ministry of Commerce for our Turquality project which we plan to conduct in China, India and Russia. We developed new projects in cooperation with universities and research institutes, and supported research and development activities by providing project and research support both technically and financially. In addition to the projects we have been conducting for many years, we completed our water recovery project, and continued the work of our Grape, Fig, Apricot and Organic Products Committees, which we established in 2018 and where all stakeholders come together."

We will continue to work with full effort on sustainability

Mehmet Ali Işık emphasized that in August they were invited to and participated in the China Tree Nut Conference held in China, where they organized a presentation and promotion activities on behalf of Turkey. "In October, we organized the 63rd International Seedless Dried Grape Producers Conference with representatives from different countries. Among the lessons we drew in 2023 are that change is inevitable, consumer preferences and expectations are changing, and accordingly our business practices and thinking must also change, we need transparent and communicative structures to respond to new expectations, and every action we take must be sustainable. Within this framework, our Grape, Fig, Apricot and Organic Products Committees established in 2018 where all stakeholders come together, along with our Science, Technology and Economics Board, will continue their activities in 2024, and we will continue to work with full effort on sustainability to increase our exports and find quick solutions to the problems we face." Chairman Işık stated, "As the dried fruit sector, I want to say that our primary target for 2024 is to ensure sustainable production and export growth. To achieve this target, we will continue our work with our producers, exporters, ministries, universities and international stakeholders. Through our promotion projects, we will try to increase exports of our sector and products, and find solutions to the problems we face."

Conscious agriculture must be practiced

Turkey Dried Fruits and Products Exporters Associations Sector Board Chairman Osman Öz said, "If your product is quality, you can market it anywhere. Quality starts from production, from the orchard. In some products, especially figs, we ignore quality. Quality in apricots is improving. We must advance through creating new products and doing R&D. In the German market, Turkish grapes have gradually lost their impact due to pesticides. We need to limit the number of pesticides. Grapes have some 6-7 main diseases. There are 20-25 pesticides to prevent these diseases. Not everyone should be licensed. Our Ministry of Agriculture should focus on this issue. Our biggest problem is pesticides. The Chinese buy better quality goods than even Europe. Pesticides should be sold through specific procedures and the number of pesticides should be reduced. The pesticide issue affects the future of our products. Conscious agriculture must be practiced." Providing information about the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC), the world's highest advisory platform for dried fruits and tree nuts in general, Ege Dried Fruits and Products Exporters Association Board Member and INC Ambassador Ahmet Bilge Göksan said, "Every year, the Ege Dried Fruits and Products Exporters Association Board conducts strong participation and representation at the congress. My colleagues should become members of INC and show active participation. Through initiatives at INC, we have been successful in dried fruit imports to India. It is an organization with influence on governments. Turkey is a country with weight in dried figs, dried apricots and seedless dried grapes. We are trying to move forward with INC behind us. It is one of the sector's most important platforms."