The Sultaniye variety of seedless grapes grown in Alasehir, Manisa, a city located in western Turkey, reached record export volume in 2018.
15 thousand trucks filled with grapes, cherries and pomegranates left Alasehir district to reach 74 countries including Russia and European countries. 83 thousand tons of Sultaniye grapes was exported to Russia, 54 thousand tons were exported to European countries and 3 thousand tons to other countries. Overall the volume of exports reached 140 thousand tons, returning a revenue of 250 million USD (219,4 million Euro).
Besides grapes, Alasehir also grows cherries and pomegranates. 36 thousand tons of cherries and 20 thousand tons of pomegranates were exported last year. Together with these fruits, Alasehir earned 500 million USD (438,7 million Euro) in 2018.
Tarik Memis, of Alasehir's Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, stated that they were proud of the record export volume last year and said: "Alasehir is neither a port city, nor does it border on another country, yet, we realized a big volume of exports from our town. We owe this to our farmers who grow high quality products and to our exporters. If we could have an airport nearby in the future, we believe that we could also export to the East and the Far East."
The company Ucak Kardesler has been the export leader of Sultaniye grapes for the last ten years. The owner, Ali Ucak, expressed his contentment about their success: "We managed to keep our position as the top exporter of table grapes grown in Alasehir. We export one third of the Sultaniye grapes from the region. Depending on the yield, we increase our export by 10 to 15 % every year. We have approximately 100 million USD (88 million Euro) worth of exports."
Source: Hurriyet