Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
International Agriculture Congress, Comrat, Moldova, 3 - 06 Mayıs 2018, ss.50
Apricot is a kind of drupe fruit with high economic importance. Its motherland includes Central
Asia to China and through Persia and Caucasia and also cultivated in Turkey. Apricot first
introduced to Anatolia during the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Due to appropriate climate
and soil conditions in Anatolia, it has very well adapted to the land, therefore Anatolia is
assumed to be the second motherland of apricot.
According to 2016 FAO data, apricot production was occurred to be 3.881.204 tons worldwide,
whereas Turkey supply one fifth of world’s production with 730.000 tons. In addition to that,
according to FAO (2013) and ITC (2015) data, Turkey is the number one dry apricot producer
and exporter of the world.
Malatya supplies 85% of dry and 52% of fresh apricot production capacity of Turkey. In
Malatya, the production is intensively intended for drying, and nearly 90-95% of dried apricots
are exported. Considering these records, it can be seen that Malatya alone has a share of 10%
in fresh apricot production, and nearly 65-70% of dry apricot production capacity of the world.
Due to this domination in world market, Malatya commemorated with apricot, and Malatya and
apricot became two identical words.
Approximately 90% of apricots in Malatya are Hacihaliloglu and Kabaasi types. Some other
important Malatya apricot cultivars are; Soganci, Hasanbey, Cologlu, Cataloglu, Sekerpare,
Yegen, Hacikiz, Ismailaga, and Turfanda.
Apricot is mainly consumed either fresh or dry worldwide, besides it is used as row material in
several sectors such as fruit juice, appetizers, marmalade, cosmetics and pharmaceutical
industry. Apricot’s several areas of use makes it an important commercial good, thus, from this
aspect it ensures both widespread and continuous production and marketing features.