Apricots may be cultivated on trees, but trust, innovation, and prosperity are fostered in collaboration.
Apricots may be cultivated on trees, but trust, innovation, and prosperity are fostered in collaboration.
By Mehmet Enes Beşer
At first glance, Türkiye and China would appear natural competitors in the global apricot business. Both nations are among the world’s leading apricot-producing countries, each with vast orchards, skilled farmers, and age-old traditions of farming. Türkiye, especially the eastern province of Malatya, controls dried apricot exports, while China has increasingly increased its production in recent years, aiming at both fresh consumption and regional processing. As global markets become increasingly competitive and pressures from climate increase, the temptation to view this relationship in zero-sum terms is understandable. But such a view is myopic and self-destructive. Only by moving from competition to collaboration—and tapping into their mutual advantage in manufacture, technology, and logistics—are Türkiye and China likely to make long-term prosperity in the apricot trade a reality.
Agricultural sectors across the world are undergoing a structural revolution. Climate, water shortages, rising input prices, and altered consumer patterns are turning traditional business models on their head. These forces are already at work on the ground for Turkish and Chinese apricot growers. Erratic frosts in Malatya have lopped yields in recent years, while some areas of China’s apricot cultivation regions are falling victim to desertification and shifting weather patterns. These shared ailments call for joint research and knowledge exchange on climate-resilient varieties, water-saving irrigation practices, and orchard management systems. Joint R&D between Turkish and Chinese agricultural research institutions may provide answers that suit their own farmers but also Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean producers alike.
Furthermore, the global apricot market is not a pie that remains constant to be divided, but a growing one with ample room for diversification. Türkiye has made a good reputation for itself in dried apricot export, controlling the world’s export of this specialty to the extent of approximately 80%. Its sulfur-treated and sun-dried varieties are particularly prized for their uniformity, longevity, and convenience of use in cooking. China, however, is increasingly concentrating on the consumption of fresh apricots, flavor-added beverages, and new by-products such as apricot kernel oil and cosmetics. Rather than price competition, China and Türkiye can segment their manufacture and even co-brand portions of it. A partnership that combines Turkish dried apricots with Chinese health food packaging or online marketing expertise could deliver premium-priced offerings for discerning consumers in Asia, the Gulf, and Europe.
Cooperation can extend to logistics and distribution as well. China’s growing e-commerce network and leadership in cross-border payment platforms provide Türkiye with access to a fast-evolving, digitally savvy consuming community. Turkish exporters, particularly SMEs, are unable to position themselves in China due to regulatory barriers, certification requirements, and poor digital footprint. A bilateral regime that simplifies customs formalities, harmonizes quality checks, and provides digital promotion campaigns could open new avenues for Turkish apricot producers.
Conversely, Türkiye’s location at the nexus of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa gives Chinese apricot-associated products an effective launching pad into those markets. Chinese companies wishing to process, package, or co-invest in apricot-derived products can benefit from joint ventures in Türkiye’s agri-industrial estates. Joint ventures can reduce logistics costs, help reduce risk and create a diversified supply chain less vulnerable to geopolitical disturbances or climatic shock.
Yet another compelling reason to cooperate is the ability to determine global standards. With growing consumer awareness about traceability, pesticide application, labor practices, and sustainability, producer countries must adapt or get excluded. Türkiye and China, as large producers, have the capability to lead this transformation—through standardizing the best practices in traceability from tree to market, organic or fair-trade certifications of apricots, and carbon-neutral packaging investments. A joint sustainability code or certification from both countries would set a precedent, encouraging the industry to improve, and making their exports stand out in oversaturated markets.
Beyond the economic argument, the Turkish-Chinese apricot partnership could be symbolic. It would introduce a new model of agricultural diplomacy—where rising powers would move beyond transactional trade and towards developmental synergy. It could also strengthen bilateral relations at a time when both nations are seeking to diversify strategic relationships away from the classic transatlantic or Indo-Pacific vectors. Soft diplomacy centered on shared rural values and food security goals may, ultimately, prove more resilient than costly geopolitical deals.
Conclusion
The apricot market may seem a specialist niche, but it holds a profound lesson in how world agriculture must transform. The future belongs not to the countries that produce the most fruit at the cheapest price, but to those who build intelligent, resilient, and collective systems of making and sharing. For Türkiye and China, the path forward is not to out-export each other in graphs of exports or oversaturate markets, but to collaborate to construct a shared vision for the place of the apricot in a sustainable, diversified, and health-based food economy.
Such cooperation would require institutional innovation: shared centers of research, co-owned investment pools, shared grading standards, and coordinated trade shows. It would require a break from the traditional agricultural nationalism and the embrace of a logic of agricultural interdependence—one in which competitiveness is not mutually exclusive from cooperation, and in which bilateral trust creates multilateral opportunity.
In a global landscape where economic disintegration and climatic uncertainty threaten rural livelihoods, cooperation over competition is no longer a courtesy—it is a strategic imperative. Apricots may be cultivated on trees, but trust, innovation, and prosperity are fostered in collaboration. For Türkiye and China, now is the time to harvest that potential in partnership.