✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Temperate tree fruit · Stone fruit

Apricot

Prunus armeniaca · Rosaceae

Apricot is a warm-temperate tree that grows best in the 14–35°C range with 900–1300 mm of rain, cropping over a 180–240-day season. Today it is grown mostly in Türkiye, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Optimal temp
14–35 °C
Annual rain
900–1300 mm
Max altitude
2,000 m
Cold limit
7°C
Growing cycle
180–240 d
Climate-fit land
6 % world

How it grows

Apricot
Photo: Shuhrataxmedov · CC BY-SA 3.0
Apricot
Photo: Mehraj Mir · CC BY-SA 3.0
🌳 On a tree

Apricot grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

What it’s worth to grow

$1.20 / kg at the farm gate
$$$$$
Mid-value
pricier than 68% of all crops · #9 of 15 temperate fruit
Ranked against similar crops — Temperate fruit
Blueberry$5.27/kg
Raspberry$4.68/kg
Blackberry$4.68/kg
Strawberry$2.58/kg
Sweet Cherry$2.46/kg
Cranberry$1.54/kg
Kiwifruit$1.51/kg
Fig$1.35/kg
Apricot ◀$1.20/kg
Peach$0.90/kg

Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 285 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.

Where Earth's climate suits apricot

Global climatic suitability map for Apricot
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
6% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production · FAOSTAT 2024
World harvest 4.7M t/yr
Türkiye1.27M t
Uzbekistan527k t
Tajikistan313k t
Iran304k t
Italy240k t
Algeria173k t
Pakistan169k t
Afghanistan168k t
Latest reported year. Source: FAO FAOSTAT.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
United States of America
China
Canada
Argentina
Russia
France
Australia
Germany
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

The climate where it grows

Türkiye🌧 32% rain · dry
12°C · 966 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Tajikistan🌧 93% rain · near normal
7°C · 913 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Iran🌧 65% rain · dry
12°C · 978 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Italy🌧 78% rain · dry
13°C · 992 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND

— mean monthly temperature   ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 14–35°C · tolerates 7–40°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 900–1300 mm · tolerates 800–1470 mm
0 mm4500 mm
Soil pHoptimum 5.0–8.0 · tolerates 5.0–8.0
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±—° · soil pH 5–8.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 180–240 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Hard freeze. Tolerant of chill but killed once temperatures fall below about -1°C.

Related crops