Delegations from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Greece, South Africa, South Africa, Turkey and the United States attended the third online meeting of the 62nd International Conference of Seedless Raisin Producing Countries organized by the Aegean Dried Fruits and Products Exporters’ Association.
Turkey will produce 24 percent
At the meeting, Turkey declared that it will produce 24 percent of the world’s 1 million 288 thousand tons of seedless raisins with a yield of approximately 320 thousand tons.
The USA ranks second with 221 thousand 83 tons of production, while China ranks third with 190 thousand tons of seedless raisins. India 145 thousand tons, Iran 110 thousand tons, Uzbekistan 70 thousand tons, Chile 66 thousand 144 tons, South Africa 57 thousand tons, Argentina 45 thousand tons, Australia 12 thousand 984 tons.
While seedless raisin producing countries aim to export 626 thousand 284 tons of raisins worldwide in 2022, Turkey aims to get 43 percent of the world’s exports with 270 thousand tons of raisin exports.
Next conference on October 2023 in Turkey
Osman Öz, Chairman of the Turkish Dried Fruit Sector Board, delivered the opening speech of the International Conference of Seedless Raisin Producing Countries and said ” The World Conference of Seedless Raisin Producing Countries was planned to be held in Izmir this year, but due to Covid-19, we gathered online for the third time. We came together with representatives from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Greece, South Africa and the USA. Producing countries evaluated the 2021/22 season and made presentations on yield, domestic consumption and export expectations for 2022/23. We decided to hold the conference in Turkey on October 13-14, 2023. We hope to see all our stakeholders in Turkey next year.”
At the 2022 International Conference of Seedless Raisin Producing Countries, Osman Öz, Chairman of the Dried Fruit Sector Board from Turkey, was elected as the President, Mark King from Australia as the Vice President and Ece Tırkaz from Turkey as the Clerk.
Climate crisis
According to statistical analyses at the conference, there was a 7 percent decrease in Thompson type raisins and Sultani seedless raisins, which are considered the equivalent of Aegean seedless raisins in the USA, due to global stocks, climate crisis and declining production. Stocks remaining from the previous period decreased by 27.75 percent. Producer countries expect a good season in 2022/23.