THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Oğulcan Sagun, Vice Chair of the Istanbul Fisheries and Animal Products exporters’ Association, announced that exports in the aquaculture sector soared by 2.6 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year and reached 1 billion 736 million dollars.
‘”We are the leader in Europe in the export of sea bass and trout. One out of every three fish in Europe comes from Türkiye,” Sagun said.
Pointing out that Türkiye, which ranks second after Norway in Europe in aquaculture products, exports 80 percent of its production, Sagun explained, “Of these exports, 75 percent are made up of sea bream, sea bass, tuna, trout and in recent years, Turkish salmon. The remaining 15 percent is from shellfish such as crayfish and snails and periwinkles. Whilst the majority of seabream, sea bass and trout are exported to EU countries and Russia, almost all of the tuna is exported to Japan. Of the total production of 700 thousand tonnes in the sector, 400 thousand tonnes is farmed production and 300 thousand tonnes is wild catching. The added value ratio in exports is above Türkiye’s average.”
“While exporting aquaculture products to many parts of the world, especially to the EU and Japan, the fact that the annual consumption per capita in the country decreases from 8 kilos to 6 kilos reveals the low domestic consumption. The consumption of crustacean products such as crayfish and shrimp in Türkiye is almost negligible. These products are exported to Northern European countries such as Sweden, Russia and Moldova with high added value. Snails and frogs in the value-added product group are exported to France and Switzerland with a price of 28-30 euro per kilo. Sea snails are exported to China, Korea and Korea,” Sagun noted.
“We buy quota from Northern Africa for tuna”
On the other hand, Oğulcan Sagun highlighted that Türkiye ranks third in tuna farming after Spain and Malta and added, “We get on ships and sail to the Mediterranean. We go to countries such as Malta and Syria and do fishing. We bring back the tuna we catch and grow them. Since it is not a viable technology to produce this fish from eggs, we bring it through hunting. But here, too, each country has a quota. EU countries hold 60 per cent of the tuna quota. Türkiye has 7 percent and the others are North African countries. So this is not a fair situation, this practice is not healthy.”
