Turkish orange crop shrinks 23%

Turkey’s 2020/21 orange crop is projected to contract by 23% to 1.3 million tons from 2019/20, due to excessive hot weather conditions in May 2020 during the blooming period. According to USDA data, in 2020/21, orange exports are also expected to fall 10% Y-O-Y to 263,000 tons, as a result of the smaller harvest. By contrast, 2020/21 tangerine production is forecast to be up by 14% to 1.6 million tons with good harvest quality due to the favourable temperatures and timing of rains. Turkish tangerine exports started well in 2020/21, with shipments, mostly to Russia, Ukraine, and Iraq, reaching 890,000 tons as of April 2021 – 8% higher than the same period in the previous season. One spot on the horizon for Turkish producers is the price of fertiliser, which has risen by 60-90% in the past year.