THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
The favourable course in political relations between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia had a positive impact on the country’s foreign trade figures. The rapprochement between the two countries also led to an increase in the Turkish food sector’s exports to Saudi Arabia. Türkiye’s food exports to Saudi Arabia grew by 23 percent in 2024, from $374 million to $461 million.
Aegean Exporters’ Associations (EIB), which aims to ramp up the export of Turkish food products to Saudi Arabia, which imports 28 billion dollars of food products annually, to over 1 billion dollars, rolled up its sleeves to organise a “Food Sectoral Trade Delegation” to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 20-23 April 2025.
The leader of food exports to Saudi Arabia is cereals pulses oilseeds…
Stating that there is a favourable environment for increasing exports to Saudi Arabia, Muhammet Öztürk, Chair of the Aegean Grains, Pulses, Oil Seeds and Products Exporters’ Association, emphasised that the cereals, pulses and oil seeds sector is represented in the export of food products from Türkiye to Saudi Arabia with $288.5 million.
Highlighting that 63 dollars of every 100 dollars of food products exports from Türkiye to Saudi Arabia is made by the cereals, pulses and oilseeds sector, Öztürk said, “Saudi Arabia is the target market for all our food products from fresh fruit and vegetables to aquaculture products, from hazelnuts to fruit and vegetable products, from olives and olive oil to dried fruits, with a population of 35 million and high purchasing power. Saudi Arabia is a country visited by around 20 million tourists every year. We aim to increase our food exports to Saudi Arabia to over 1 billion dollars in the next 5 years.”
We have had a foreign trade surplus to Saudi Arabia…
Reminding that Saudi Arabia is the 19th largest economy in the world, Öztürk continued as follows; “Saudi Arabia, the 14th largest economy in the world according to purchasing power parity, is an important export market for Turkish exporters in every field. Türkiye’s total exports to Saudi Arabia soared by 52 percent in 2024, from $2.6 billion to $4 billion. While Türkiye gave a foreign trade deficit of 418 million dollars to Saudi Arabia in 2023, it gave a foreign trade surplus of 930 million dollars in 2024. Our goal will be to further improve the current picture in favour of our country.”
While the cereals, pulses and oilseeds sector was the leader in Türkiye’s food products exports to Saudi Arabia with $288.5 million, the fresh fruit and vegetable sector exported $57.3 million, the fruit and vegetable products sector exported $36 million, the olive and olive oil sector exported $26.8 million, the aquaculture and animal products sector exported $24.2 million, the dried fruit and products sector exported $18.5 million, the hazelnut sector exported $10.3 million and the non-wood forest products sector exported $461 thousand.
Bilateral business meetings will be organised with Saudi Arabian food importers within the scope of the ‘Food Sectoral Trade Delegation’ to be held by the Aegean Exporters’ Associations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 20-23 April 2025. Cooperation organisations, chain markets and markets will be visited…
