Tomatoes and peppers occupy the first places in the export of agricultural products.

In the 100-day exports of the Western Mediterranean Region, tomato surpassed all sectors and products, from industry to mining, with an increase of 33 percent and a turnover of 115 million 834 thousand dollars.

The second-ranked bell pepper was up 47 percent to more than $89 million. Two products concentrated 29 percent of total exports of approximately 756 million dollars and 68 percent of the fresh fruit and vegetable sector.

According to data from the Western Mediterranean Exporters Association (BAIB), exports from Antalya, Isparta and Burdur reached 756 million dollars with an increase of 1.3 percent as of April 11.

Fresh fruit and vegetable products by sector and tomato by product rank first in exports, of which 63 percent is made up of the agricultural sector.

In the first 100 days of this year, between January 1 and April 11, exports of the fresh fruit and vegetable sector reached 299 million 237 thousand dollars, an increase of 26 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. .

Fresh vegetables represented 248 million 368 thousand dollars, fresh fruits 41 million 650 thousand dollars and citrus fruits 9 million 125 thousand dollars of this export.

TOMATOES EXCEED 115 MILLION DOLLARS

While vegetable exports grew by almost 36 percent, tomato ranked first in terms of product among all sectors, from textiles to electrical-electronics, from mining to chemicals, and pepper was second. most exported product in the region’s exports.

In the process until April 11 of this year, 115 million 834 thousand dollars of tomatoes were exported from the region with an increase of almost 33 percent.

In the total of 2022, 173 million dollars of export were made as a product. Bell pepper exports, which ranked second among all items by commodity, are up 47 percent this year to exceed $89 million. Total bell pepper export revenue in 2022 was $142 million.

cucumber, pumpkin, eggplant

Cucumber as an export product of fresh vegetables increased 28 percent to 20 million 717 thousand dollars, zucchini with an increase of 24 percent to 12 million 590 thousand dollars, eggplant with an increase of 15 percent to 5 million 81 thousand dollars were the other three products. In addition, many vegetable products such as cabbage, lettuce, carrots and radishes, beans, legumes, spinach, cauliflower and leeks are on the export list.

This year’s fresh fruit exports fell 9 percent to $41.65 million due to the winter season, while apples ranked first with $18.564 million. The most exported fruits were pomegranate 14 million 341 thousand dollars, pears 2 million 845 thousand dollars, quince 2 million 283 thousand dollars, strawberries 1 million 405 thousand dollars, plums 426 thousand dollars.

Watermelon, melon, chestnut and grape are also on the list of exported fruits. When we look at citrus, mandarins rank first with a total of 9.1 million dollars in exports, with 3 million 729 thousand dollars. Lemon 3 million 151 thousand dollars, orange 1 million 827 thousand dollars, grapefruit 502 thousand dollars.

THREE REASONS FOR THE INCREASE IN EXPORTS

Umit Mirza Çavuşoğlu, President of BAIB, drew attention to the significant increase in vegetable exports this year, saying that the main factor for this increase was that they carried out serious marketing activities as BAIB’s management.

Pointing to the bad weather conditions in Europe as the second factor, Çavuşoğlu said that there was a significant increase in exports to Russia due to the embargoes applied as the third factor.

8- 8.5 PERCENT OF PRODUCTION IS FOR EXPORT

Stating that Turkey’s annual production of fresh fruits and vegetables is around 55 million tons, Çavuşoğlu noted that only 8-8.5 percent of this production can be exported, noting that exports have no effect. about the price increase in fresh fruit and vegetable products. Stating that price increases are related to input costs, Çavuşoğlu also argued that exports are a factor that stabilizes prices in the domestic market from time to time.

40 percent of production is wasted

Explaining that more than 90 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables produced in Turkey are consumed in the domestic market and that the production is more than enough for the domestic market, Çavuşoğlu stated that there is a serious problem of waste, saying: “Unfortunately “20 percent of the product is wasted in the process from the field to the market in our country. We estimate that almost 40 percent is wasted, 20 percent from the market to the final consumer and 20 percent in the subsequent process” , said.

EXTRA PRODUCTION OF TOMATO 17 PERCENT

Stating that tomatoes are a very important export product in the Antalya region, Çavuşoğlu noted that the ratio of tomato production to consumption in Turkey is 117 percent. Çavuşoğlu said: “We have a 17 percent surplus in tomato production and we can export tomatoes at this rate. But now we can export 4.7 percent of the tomatoes. Furthermore, if our input costs can be balanced in terms of producers, our production will increase our competitiveness with other countries and we will be able to increase our exports to higher levels.

EXPORTS OF VEGETABLE AND FRUIT PRODUCTS IN 2022

In the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, where exports amounted to 666 million dollars in 2022, vegetable exports amounted to 406 million dollars, fruit exports to 236 million dollars, while citrus exceeded 24 million of dollars. Although tomato was the product with the highest export rate with 173 million 154 thousand dollars in fresh vegetables last year, it was followed by pepper with 142 million 531 thousand dollars.

Other vegetables were cucumber 40 million 427 thousand dollars, zucchini 26 million 889 thousand dollars, eggplant 11 million 988 thousand dollars, cabbage 4 million 684 thousand dollars, carrot and radish 1.7 million dollars.

The fruit export data in 2022 are as follows; Cherry-cherry 46 million 732 thousand dollars. Apple 42 million 160 thousand dollars. Grenada is 39 million 631 thousand dollars. Grape 29 million 339 thousand dollars. Peach is 11 million 971 thousand dollars. Pear is 10 million 871 thousand dollars.

The watermelon is 10 million 615 thousand dollars. I make 10 million 376 thousand dollars. Apricot 8 million 898 thousand dollars. Melon is 7 million 74 thousand dollars. The quince is 5 million 291 thousand dollars. Plum 4 million 50 thousand dollars. Strawberry 2 million 643 thousand dollars. Chestnut 2 million 82 thousand dollars. Other fresh fruits are 4 million 47 thousand dollars. Last year, lemons ranked first in citrus exports with 10 million 476 thousand dollars, followed by tangerines with 8 million 793 thousand dollars, orange with 3 million 227 thousand dollars and grapefruit with close to 1.5 million dollars. (DHA)