Press release…
Organised by Aegean Exporters’ Associations (EIB) and Economy Newspaper, “Aegean Export Meetings – Muğla” event was held in the meeting hall of Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry. Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Barış Saylak, who hosted the meeting that brought together the export giants of the Aegean and Muğla producers, thanked the Aegean Exporters’ Associations for supporting the journey of Muğla producers to export and the producers who carried Muğla to the league of export giants.
Delivering the opening speech of the meeting, Barış Saylak, Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry, expressed his satisfaction that EIB held one of its traditional meetings in a provincial directorate for the first time. Saylak said that Muğla province has broken export records in products such as aquaculture products, fresh vegetables and fruits, pine honey, olives and olive oil and that they are gradually raising their targets and added, “When we came to office, we said that Muğla, a province of tourism, has to take agriculture and tourism together. As a result, we have left a certain stage behind in this sense.”
Saylak shared the following information about Muğla’s recent export data:
“Muğla hosted 7 million foreign tourists in 2022 and brought 2.3 billion dollars in foreign currency to our country in 2022. Our agricultural export figure reached approximately 1 billion dollars. Our province, which ranked 24th in Türkiye, became the export spike record holder of the Aegean Region with a 27 per cent jump in 2022. In 2022, our aquaculture exports soared by 30 percent compared to the previous year’s data and reached 125,987 tonnes. Our annual export value of aquaculture products rose by 42 percent to 803.9 million dollars. In the first eight months of 2023, our exports of aquaculture products were 86,712 tonnes and the export value was 553.6 million dollars.”
“In 2022, our plant production exports were 77,056 tonnes and the export value was 80.9 million, while in the first eight months of 2023, our plant production exports were 94,431 tonnes and the export value was 142 million Euros. In 2022, our olive oil export value is 1.336 million dollars, our honey export is 1.917 tonnes and our export value is 5.7 million dollars,” Saylak noted.
Pointing out that all this success is the result of a “synergy” and co-operation, Saylak concluded, “Our goal is to provide our producers with the income they deserve. Apart from that our province needs an innovation centre in agriculture. Furthermore, sustainable production is a cultural heritage. We have to ensure this not only with our soil, but also with our water and sea. This is the only way we can ensure justice between generations.”