Uncertainty has been high in the run-up to the Turkish citrus season, with lemon prices remaining unset just days away from harvesting
Turkish citrus growers are expecting yields of citrus and easy-peeler varieties to be low this season, and uncertainty has remained high as the campaign approaches, with lemon prices remaining unset days before the harvest.
“The forecast for citrus is quite bad in Turkey,” said Ayse Özler of Özler Ziraat. “Volumes are not there again. Last year, there was overproduction but the few years before that were also low.”
“We haven’t had a standard season for the past six years,” added Mehmet Özler. “Yield is the most important factor for the whole agriculture industry. If you don’t have yield, all bets are off.”
For easy peelers, the company works mainly with the UK. “For satsumas, we send almost exclusively to the UK retailers,” said Özler. “This year, there’s going to be a problem, with production down by 80 per cent in some places. There are orchards that normally produce 200-300 tonnes that are expecting to harvest 20 tonnes this season. It might not even be feasible to bring in the workers to harvest that size crop, considering the cost of labour.”
Meanwhile, lemon volumes are anticipated to decrease, according to Mustafa Arslan of MDA Agro. “The biggest problem for Turkish exporters is the extreme increase in costs, including for labour, transportation, packaging and production,” he said.
“Last season, fruit prices in the orchards were very low,” he explained. “Now, with the increase in costs, our farmers are rightfully turning to high-price targets due to this season’s low productivity. As packers, we must satisfy our farmers, but we also have a responsibility to satisfy our customers facing increasing costs. The coming season is therefore set to be a bit of a struggle.”
Turkish exporters faced tough competition from Egypt last season, but the biggest challenge, according to Arslan, was the prices, which failed to cover costs during the production season.
“The reason for this was that our production was high,” explained Arslan. “However, due to low production this season, we will not have problems competing with other countries, and importers should be able to stay away from overly aggressive competition by targeting the right price for quality products.”
However, uncertainty concerning lemon prices has continued, despite announcements coming out of South Africa that volumes were low.
“In a normal year, exporters would have rushed out and bought the lemons on the trees,” said Ayse Özler. “But with just days left until harvesting, prices are not yet set because no exporter feels confident enough. We have never seen such a thing. The trust in the market is clearly not there.”
