In Manisa, the land of sultana raisins, the weather is still hot, around 30 degrees during the day. However, rainy days are close in the weather forecasts.
Raisins, which have suffered from low quality due to the weather and mildew disease, have lost half of their yield this year compared to last year. The amount of No. 9 and No. 10 raisins is well below the required amount.
This year, when TMO did not intervene by not announcing a purchase price, farmers sold to TARİŞ, which announced a price of 45 TL for number 7 sultana raisins. TARİŞ, on the other hand, later updated its prices by taking into account the amount of harvest and domestic and foreign market prices.
New TARİŞ purchase prices from the farmers are below
- 55 TRY for number 7,
- 57.50 TRY for size 7.5,
- 60 TRY for number 8,
- 62.50 TRY for size 8.5,
- 65 TRY for number 9,
- 67.50 TRY for size 9.5,
- The price was set at 70 TRY for number 10 raisins.
Farmers who cannot sell to Tariş sell their grapes to export companies at 45-50 TL. Farmers who have the opportunity to store their raisins are waiting and not selling in the hope that the price will rise.
Turkey’s seedless 2022/23 raisin export season, which started in September 2022, reached 110 countries and amounted to 426 million dollars. While last year’s yield was 360 thousand tons, this year’s yield is expected to be below 200 thousand tons. Due to the low yield, exports continue to be stagnant this year as prices have increased significantly compared to last year. Type 8 raisins, which averaged EUR 1.50/kg FOB last year, are currently being sold at EUR 2.30 – 2.40/kg FOB. Due to the high price of Turkish raisins, consumers are turning to other origins such as Iran, Uzbekistan, India and China, even though their characteristics are different from those of Turkish origin.