Dried Apricots

Turkish Malatya, sulphured or natural, sizes 1 to 8

Dried apricots (HS 0813.10) are overwhelmingly a Turkish trade. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations total USD 501 million across reporters, and Türkiye declared USD 405 million and 76,439 MT, 81% of the value, at an average of about USD 5,290 per MT; Uzbekistan followed at USD 17.5 million. The Turkish crop is grown and dried around Malatya, mostly the Hacıhaliloğlu variety, picked by hand and sun-dried on open beds in July, with the first new-crop shipments following once the fruit is dry. The first line of a Turkish apricot contract is the treatment. Sulphured apricots are treated with sulphur dioxide to hold a light yellow to bright orange colour and a longer shelf life; natural (unsulphured) apricots are sun-dried without it, turn dark brown, and under AFI specifications must be completely free of sulphites. The EU maximum for SO2 in dried apricots is 2,000 mg/kg, and the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council notes that most importing countries, and Türkiye, accept the same limit.

Size is a count per kg. The AFI specification for Turkish dried apricots runs from Size 1 (up to 100 pieces per kg, about 36 mm and larger) to Size 8 (220 or more per kg, about 20 mm or less), with Sizes 3 to 6 covering 121 to 200 per kg, and grades Fancy, Industrial, Fancy Halves, Industrial Halves and Naturals; Fancy grade is contracted at 20-24% moisture. Under UNECE standard DDP-15 the classes are Extra, Class I and Class II, and high-moisture soft apricots at 25-40% moisture must be treated with preservatives or otherwise preserved and labelled. Size 1 to 3 wholes go to retail and gifting, Sizes 4 to 6 are the volume retail and snack grades, and halves, Size 7 and 8 and industrial grades go to diced apricot, bakery, cereal, bars and paste. EU limits under Regulation (EU) 2023/915 are 2.0 µg/kg aflatoxin B1 and 4.0 µg/kg total for dried fruit placed on the market (5.0 / 10.0 µg/kg for fruit to be sorted) and 2.0 µg/kg ochratoxin A for dried fruit other than vine fruit and figs. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers Malatya dried apricots from Turkish packers against a certificate of analysis for size, moisture, SO2 (or sulphite-free status for naturals), aflatoxin, ochratoxin A and pest damage, a phytosanitary certificate and a certificate of origin, in lined cartons, container-load, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Send the treatment, size, grade, form (whole, halves, diced), SO2 limit, volume and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.