Sweet, fragrant rich, orange apricot fruits are another summer delicacy of Asian origin fruits. Today, the most important commercially producing countries are Turkey, Iran, Italy, France, Spain, Syria, Greece, and China.
Apricots are those beautifully orange colored fruits full of beta-carotene and fiber that are one of the first signs of summer. Although dried and canned apricots are available year-round, fresh apricots with a plentiful supply of vitamin C and are in season in North America from May through August. Any fresh fruit you see during the winter months have been imported from either South America or New Zealand.
Production trends according to FAOSTAT, the top producers of apricots (in tonnes) in 2012 were as follows
(in Tonnes)
1. Turkey : 795,768
2. Iran : 460,000
3. Uzbekistan : 365,000
4. Algeria : 269,000
5. Italy : 247,146
6. Pakistan : 192,500
7. France : 189,711
8. Morocco : 122,405
9. Spain : 119,400
10.Egypt : 98,772
