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Pine nut, which has been losing yield for 10 years due to the insect problem and climate change, has been drawing a positive graph recently.
Pine nut exports, which decreased to 25 million dollars in 2017, increased by 68 percent in the last 5 years.
Mehmet Ali Işık, Chairperson of the Aegean Dried Fruits and Products Exporters’ Association, said that pine nut exports soared by 68 percent in the last 5 years and reached 42 million dollars in 2021.
Işık said, “In 2021, we exported pine nuts to 34 countries, especially Italy, with 29 million dollars. In our exports, Germany took the second place with a rise of 72 percent with 9 million dollars and the United Arab Emirates took the third place with a rise of 458 percent with 2 million dollars. We mainly export to EU countries. Recently, Middle Eastern countries are among our emerging markets. In the January-May period of 2022, we exported 6 million 662 thousand dollars of pine nuts. On the basis of quantity, we export 113 tonnes. This year, we aim to export 50 million dollars in pine nuts.”
Underlining that Turkiye is an important pine nut producer in the world, Işık also noted that 16 villages in Izmir’s leading agricultural district Bergama’s Kozak Plateau provide their livelihood from here.
“Menderes, Aydın-Koçarlı-Mazon, Çine Topçam, Bozdoğan-Altıntaş, Muğla-Katrancı Village, Manisa-Gördes are also our important production centre regions. We have experienced significant yield loss due to the long-standing insect problem and climate change. Until about 10 years ago, for example, we were exporting up to 2 thousand tonnes in 2010, when we look at it as of 2021, our exports are in the band of 661 tonnes. Compared to 2020, there is a 3 percent decrease in our exports on quantity basis. We have to bring the yield to a certain level. We have to create new production sites,” he added.
Pointing out that China is the main producer country in pine nuts and accounts for 30 percent of the world production, he concluded, “Other leading producers are North Korea, Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the Mediterranean, we can list the countries that produce the most pine nuts as Turkiye, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Germany and the USA are the biggest importers. Among the countries that consume the most pine nuts are China, North Korea, USA, Russia, Germany, Italy.”
