dried apricots

‘Apricot’ Is the Key to Return in Malatya After Earthquake

Mintec Global
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In Malatya, the ‘apricot capital of the world’, dried apricot producers in the organized industrial zone partially started to operate after the earthquake, and temporary bazaars are demanded to be established in order to revive the retail trade, which was severely damaged.

People are living in tents

On 6 February, the apricot trade in Malatya was also adversely affected by the damage caused by the Kahramanmaras-centred earthquakes. Although there is not a great physical problem in the enterprises in the organized industrial zone, the biggest problem is in human resources. People lost their relatives and homes and have to live in tents.

While retail apricot trading businesses in the city center suffered great damage in the earthquake, businesses in Malatya Organised Industrial Zone started production, albeit with low capacities.

Ramazan Özcan, President of Malatya Commodity Exchange, said that while trying to heal the wounds of the earthquake, they started to make commercial and economic improvements in order for the city to return to normal life.

Stating that the apricot trade has a special place in these efforts, Özcan said, “Malatya is the capital of dried apricots in the world and we export an average of 100 thousand tonnes of dried apricots to all over the world annually. We provide an annual average export income of nearly 500 million dollars. It is a very important product for the economy of the region and even more important for the economy of Turkey.”

Emphasizing that they tried to heal the wounds very quickly after the earthquake, Özcan said:

“Our organized industrial zones were not seriously affected by the earthquake, but there are problems, especially in terms of human resources. Accommodation problems of our colleagues in production areas have started. While their food needs and daily needs are provided on the one hand, we are trying to create living spaces so that they can return to business life.

30 percent is active

We continue to work with 30 percent of our normal capacity. The periods we have requested from the companies requesting from abroad have started to expire. We tell them that there is an earthquake and that we are experiencing a significant problem, but this period is now expiring and we have started to fulfill all the signs of returning to normal life by gradually healing the wounds of both the city’s economy, the regional economy and the country’s economy and we are working. This only applies to the organized industrial zone.

Our damage assessments in these areas have come to an end. There is no significant damage to our enterprises and factories in the organized industrial zones. We have partially slightly damaged and partially undamaged factories. Besides, there are also heavily damaged areas. Currently, the wheels have started to turn again in our organized industrial zones in Malatya.”

Solutions should be produced for retail businesses

Stressing that there are nearly 5 thousand workplaces in the center of the city and almost all of them were destroyed or heavily damaged, Özcan said that there are 250-300 businesses in the centers serving the dried apricot sector, especially in Şire Bazaar, where tons of apricots were buried under the rubble. Özcan said, “Our biggest problem is the destruction of retail businesses. Temporary bazaars must be established very urgently. We need to establish temporary bazaars for the dried apricot retail sector in the city center, which we call the bazaar center, and we need to arrange accommodation for our friends who serve here. We urgently ask for help from the authorities in this regard. I am saying this for the whole business world. This is a great need for the apricot retail sector.”

AHMET MÜCAHİD KANTARCIOĞLU/MALATYA-İHA

Source: TRT

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