Dried Fig Exports Hit Historic Record of $369 Million

Turkey concluded the 2024/25 export season for dried figs with strong performance. Foreign exchange earnings from dried fig exports in the 2024/25 season rose by 27% from USD 290.858 million to USD 369.759 million.

Turkey achieved the milestone of surpassing the USD 300 million threshold for the first time in its history, with dried fig export revenues of USD 369.759 million in the 2024/25 season.

In terms of export volume, dried fig shipments declined by 3% from 63,549 tonnes in the 2023/24 season to 61,621 tonnes in the 2024/25 season.

Mehmet Ali Işık, Chairman of Ege Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association and Sustainability and Organic Products Coordinator of Aegean Exporter Associations, noted that they went through a season with severe adverse effects from the global climate crisis, yet managed to complete a successful season despite the challenges.

Target of USD 400 million for 2025/26 season
Işık, emphasizing their commitment to maintaining world leadership in dried fig production and exports, stated: "We continue our efforts uninterruptedly to ensure that our exports to the European Union, our largest export market, proceed in a healthy and sustainable manner. At the beginning of October, we met with officials from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) in Brussels to review official controls applied to dried fig exports and recent developments in food safety. We shared our monitoring, prevention and control work carried out together with Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Trade, Institutes, Universities, Merchants and Producers to prevent aflatoxin and ochratoxin formation in dried figs. Thanks to the preventive measures we have taken ahead of the 2025/26 season, we believe we will have a much more successful season. We are entering the new season with a target of 65,000 tonnes of exports and USD 400 million in export revenues."

Dried fig exports to the US increased in both volume and foreign exchange earnings
In the 2024/25 season, Turkey exported dried figs to 97 countries, with the United States ranking first at USD 84.5 million. With the positive impact of the Turkish Tastes TURQUALITY Project, which the Aegean Exporter Associations have been conducting to promote Turkish food products in the US market, dried fig exports to the US increased by 2% in volume to 15,067 tonnes, while foreign exchange earnings jumped by 43% from USD 59 million to USD 84.5 million.

Dried fig exports to France rose by 30% from USD 33.2 million to USD 43.2 million, while Germany increased demand by 32% and imported Turkish dried figs worth USD 42 million. These countries were followed by Canada with USD 17 million and Italy with USD 14 million.