Who Should You Sell Your Apricots To? A Buyer's Guide for Growers

When the harvest ends, the real matter begins. Picking the fruit from the tree and drying it on the beds is half the effort; the other half is being able to sell that crop for the value it deserves. Every year, many growers are left alone with the question “who should I give this apricot to, when, and for how much?” This article is here to help you make that decision a little more comfortably.

The Harvest Is Over, So What Comes Next?

Dried apricot behaves like a commodity; its price moves day by day, changing with harvest yield and demand. Rushing to accept the first offer that comes along can be risky, and so can holding onto it saying “let me wait a bit more.” The sound approach is to find a buyer who can properly assess the goods and won’t wear you out over weighing and payment. If you’re curious about the factors that determine the price, we also explained the subject from the buyer’s perspective in our Factors That Determine the Price of Dried Apricot article.

Direct Buyer or Commission Agent?

For most growers there are two paths: leaving the goods with a commission agent at the Şire Market, or selling to a direct buyer among the companies that buy apricot. A commission agent is practical, but a commission share is taken out, and most of the time you don’t set the price. Talking to a company that buys directly, on the other hand, lets you see the return for your product more clearly. The truth is this: whichever path you choose, what matters is whether the buyer offers transparent weighing, a current price and fast payment.

4 Things You Should Look for in a Good Buyer

The person you entrust your goods to should have these four things:

• Fair and transparent weighing — you should be able to clearly see, in front of your own eyes, what is being taken and what is being paid.
• Current, fair-value price — the price should reflect that day’s market value, not fall into a “you wouldn’t know” kind of bargaining.
• Fast payment — your money shouldn’t wait for weeks after the goods are weighed.
• On-site collection — a good buyer does not leave transporting the goods entirely as your own problem; they help sort out the logistics together.

If these four are in place, the rest is detail.

Beyond the Apricot: Kernels and Shell Are Valuable Too

Many growers think only of the dried apricot itself and assume the kernel, or the shell left over after cracking, is worthless. In reality, apricot kernel (sweet or bitter) is a product that finds buyers from snacking to cosmetic oil, and kernel shell finds buyers from biomass fuel to blasting granule and cosmetic peeling. If you have these on hand, you can have them evaluated separately too — there’s no need for them to go to waste. You can find where the shell is used in our Where Is Apricot Kernel Shell Used? article.

Where Can You Sell?

As Akyel Kayısı, we are within the apricot production basin; we go to all the districts for Malatya apricot purchasing. We buy dried apricot, kernels and shell primarily from growers and orchard owners across all districts of Malatya, as well as around Baskil (Elazığ) and Elbistan (Kahramanmaraş). It can be high tonnage, or just a few sacks. We explained one by one how we work and what we buy under which conditions on our Buying From Growers page.

How Do You Get Started?

There’s no need to make a big deal of it: send a photo of your product, its approximate quantity and the district you’re in via WhatsApp. Let us assess the product and that day’s value and send you a fair purchase offer; if we agree, we’ll complete the deal with on-site collection and cash/fast payment. The most practical way to sell your crop at its true value often starts with a short message.