Dried fruit: climate crisis clearly felt in Turkey

Effects of climate crisis in last three years

Turkey, a world leader in the production and export of seedless raisins, dried apricots, and dried figs, achieved USD 1.7 billion in exports in the dried fruit sector in 2025, despite production losses caused by the climate crisis.

All stakeholders of the sector met at the "Annual Dried Fruit Sector Evaluation Meeting" in December. The opening speech of the meeting, held at the Swissotel in Izmir, was given by Mehmet Ali Işık, Coordinator of Sustainability and Organic Products at the Aegean Exporters' Associations and President of the Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters' Association.

"We have been feeling the effects of the climate crisis acutely for the last 3 years," Işık began, "The apricot harvest has decreased from 100,000 tons to 5,000 tons this season. The raisin harvest has fallen from 320,000 tons to 165,000 tons in 3 years. Our fig harvest has decreased from 90,000 tons to 70,000 tons. We are experiencing yield loss problems in our products due to the effects of the climate crisis. Importers have taken precautions. According to the assessments of experts, global warming will continue. Risk management is needed. We must act as a country."

Emphasizing that the negative effects of the climate crisis are being experienced all over the world, President Işık continued: “Last month, we went to South Africa for the 65th International Seedless Raisin Producing Countries Conference. We saw a similar situation in South Africa. In South Africa, they are continuing their R&D studies, developing different types of raisins that will be harvested gradually over 2-3 months, and they are able to enter the market at different times by producing various types of raisins.”

Incredible 1,400 mt of dried figs destroyed by exporters

Işık, speaking on behalf of the Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association, which holds a 55% share in dried fruit exports, stated that they visited the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, İbrahim Yumaklı, and presented the issues on the sector's agenda. He also shared that Minister Yumaklı promised to visit Aydın to discuss the dried fig issue. Işık stated, “We will meet with our Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in Aydın to determine projects that can be implemented specifically regarding dried figs. We will continue to develop joint policies with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. We cannot manage our dried fruit stock in terms of quality and price. We can solve our problems by cooperating with ministries, universities, and the private sector. We cannot benefit from green consensus resources without the state. If universities are not involved, projects remain incomplete. As exporters, we destroyed 1,400 tons of aflatoxin-contaminated and mouldy dried figs in 2025 to improve quality. There is no other example of this in the world. With this project, we won the Excellence in Sustainability Award from the International Nut and Dried Fruit Congress (INC). We exporters are doing our part, but we must make all production infrastructure suitable.”

Food safety and value chain under discussion

At the "Annual Evaluation Meeting of the Dried Fruit Sector," the first session, titled "Food Safety in Dried Fruits," was moderated by Mehmet Ali Işık, President of EKMMİB (Turkish Exporters Association). Speakers included Halis Kaya, Head of Department at the General Directorate of Exports of the Ministry of Trade; Prof. Dr. Uygun Aksoy, President of the Ecological Agriculture Organization Association; Dr. Betül Vazgeçer, Vice President of the Codex Alimentarius Commission; Şahika Gülizar Atılgan, Agricultural Advisor at the Permanent Representation of Türkiye to the EU for the period 2021-2025; and Sinan Arslan, Expert at the General Directorate of Food and Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

In the second session, titled "The Dried Fig Value Chain," Yusuf Gabay, Vice President of EKMMİB (Aegean Fig Producers Association), served as moderator, while Prof. Dr. Uygun Aksoy, President of the Ecological Agriculture Organization Association, Mehmet Özkul, Director of the Fig Research Institute, Mümin Güngör, Engineer from the Food and Feed Branch of the Aydın Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, and Sinan Arslan, Expert from the General Directorate of Food and Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, shared their views.

The final session of the “Annual Evaluation Meeting of the Dried Fruit Sector” was held under the title “The Dried Grape & Dried Apricot Value Chain.” Moderated by Şemsettin Özgür, Vice President of EKMMİB (Electrical and Chemical Products Exporters Association), this session featured presentations by Erkan Geyik, Member of the EKMMİB Audit Board; Prof. Dr. Ahmet Altındişli, Faculty Member at Ege University; Selçuk Karabat, Deputy Director of the Viticulture Research Institute; and Sinan Arslan, Expert from the General Directorate of Food and Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who shared insights on how to enhance the value chain of dried grapes and dried apricots.

View the original press release here