Press release…
Harvest of chestnut, which is one of the most popular street flavours in Turkey during the Autumn-Winter months and is also used extensively in the confectionery, pastry and bakery products sectors, has begun.
Chestnut is an important export product besides its intense consumption in the domestic market. Turkey targets 50 million dollars from chestnut export in 2021. More than 80 percent of Turkey’s chestnut exports are made by Aegean exporters.
Aegean Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Exporters’ Association Chairperson Hayrettin Uçak stated that they realized 19.4 million dollars out of Turkey’s 24 million-dollar chestnut export in 2020 and that they received a share of 80-90 percent from Turkey’s chestnut export, depending on the years.
There is a 10 percent increase in chestnut harvest…
Informing that Aydın is the first province in chestnut production in Turkey, Uçak said, “Turkey produced 76 thousand 45 tonnes of chestnuts in 2020. We expect our chestnut harvest to be around 10 percent higher in 2021. Chestnut quality is extremely favourable for export. While we exported 36 million dollars of chestnuts in 2019, we had a 33 percent decrease in 2020 due to the pandemic. We expect our chestnut exports in 2021 to exceed the level of 2019 and reach 45-50 million dollars.”
Turkish chestnut is mostly exported to Italy…
While Turkey exported 24 million dollars worth of chestnuts in 2020, Italy demanded 17.5 million dollars of Turkish chestnuts. 73 percent of Turkey’s chestnut export was made to Italy.
While chestnuts worth 1.8 million dollars were exported to Lebanon, Germany bought 1.5 million dollars of Turkish chestnuts. Chestnut was exported to 34 countries in 2020.