THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters’ Association Chairperson Hayrettin Uçak said that exports of tropical fruits increased by 40 percent over the last three years.
Uçak said, “The way to branding as a country in agriculture and food is to produce value-added crops and to produce what the world demands. Turkey was an importing country in tropical fruits, but now has come to position of exporting currently 57 different countries and regions.”
“Turkey made an export of tropical fruits worth 4 million 690 thousand dollars in 2018, 5 million 110 thousand dollars in 2019 and in 2020 reached 6 million 461 thousand dollars. We are gradually expanding our value-added chain by increasing the variety of tropical fruits grown and exported in our country. We started this journey with kiwi and avocado and expanded our product range in tropical fruit by adding products such as dragon fruit, passion fruit, carambola, papaya, mangost, guava pear, mango, pineapple, coconut, blueberry and kumquat,” Uçak noted.
Uçak also emphasized the importance of establishing Specialized Organized Industrial Zones (OSB) based on Agriculture in enlarging product diversity and producing value-added crops such as tropical fruits and continued his words as follows:
“With the introduction of Agro Specialized OSB, Turkey will bring our overall agricultural exports to 30 billion dollars. Turkey has an awareness in Europe of fresh fruits and vegetables. We aim to further rise our exports to the EU, the largest consumer market of tropical fruit.
Kiwi constitutes the majority of our tropical fruit exports, amounting to approximately 4 million dollars. Compared to 2019, our kiwi exports increased by 28 percent in 2020 and reached 4 million 123 thousand dollars. In avocado, which is the second most exported crop, our exports rose by 22 percent in 2020 compared to 2019 and amounted to 1 million 489 thousand dollars. Blueberries are our third most exported crop with 518 thousand dollars.”
