9 thousand tons of dried apricots were exported from Malatya in September 2024, generating an income of 45 million dollars. In Malatya, where 85% of the world's dried apricot production is made, the year-end export target for geographical indication registered apricots has been determined as 100 thousand tons.
Malatya Commodity Exchange President Ramazan Özcan stated that the targets for dried apricot exports were maintained in the city affected by the earthquakes of February 6, 2023. Stating that some production facilities could not operate at full capacity after the earthquake, Özcan noted that they earned an income of 45 million dollars with the exports in September. Özcan said, "We continue to work to reach 50 thousand tons of exports in six months. Despite the negative effects of the earthquake, there is no deviation from our targets."
However, Özcan emphasized that labor shortage is a serious problem in the sector and said, “The need for workers in our enterprises is very high, therefore we have difficulty in increasing our production capacity. We aim to reach full capacity in October and November and export 30 thousand tons. "We continue to work to reach the 100 thousand tons target by the end of the year by compensating for the decrease in exports experienced last year," he said.