THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Turkey maintains its global leadership in oriental tobacco production and foreign trade…
Turkey ranks fifteenth in world tobacco production but ranks first in oriental tobacco production in the world.
Aegean Tobacco Exporters’ Association Chairperson Ömer Celal Umur said that tobacco continues to be an important crop for the Turkish economy in terms of the economic opportunities it creates and the added value it offers.
Umur said, “In 2020, a total of 82 thousand tonnes of leaf tobacco was produced in our country. Nearly 90 percent of this consists of Oriental tobacco. 57 percent of this production amount and 55 percent of the total number of growers are located in the Aegean Region. Approximately 60 thousand families in Turkey earn their living from tobacco. The population working in tobacco and tobacco industry sectors, including family members, reaches 1 million. In our sector, which reached an export figure of 910 million dollars in 2020, leaf tobacco exports decreased by 27 percent in January-May 2021 compared to the previous year and amounted to 79 million dollars.”
USA ranks first in leaf tobacco, Israel ranks first in tobacco products…
Explaining that while the USA ranks first with a share of 28 percent in leaf tobacco exports, Indonesia, Belgium and Poland follow the USA respectively, Umur explained, “The foreign exchange contribution of leaf tobacco, whose unit export price is quite high compared to many agricultural products, is really considerable. When the tobacco products exports of the same period are analyzed by countries, our top 3 export markets are Israel, Iraq and Turkmenistan. Especially, our exports to Turkmenistan increased by about 10 times compared to the previous year and reached 8 million dollars.”
“Cigarettes take the most important share of the cake with exports of 117 million dollars in our total tobacco products export of 192 million dollars. In the export of tobacco products, the markets generally vary according to the purchasing policies of international companies,” Umur added…
