Turkish banana producers aim to stop banana imports by 2023

Turkey currently produces 800.000 tons of bananas per year and this meets 80% of local demand. As the country steadily increases production, the producers of the geographically indicated Anamur bananas aim to meet all domestic demand by 2023.
 
Anamur Chamber of Agriculture’s chairman Ahmet Seref Gumus said that local banana production takes places throughout the year and continued: “Currently, we are able to meet 80% of the local demand. This was only 13 to 15% in 1990s. We achieved these percentages thanks to state policies in banana imports.”
 
Stating that the goals of 2023 is achievable given the steady increase in production, Gumus said: “We will stop imports in 2023. This means that we will meet 100% of local demands. In Turkey, banana consumption per person increased up to 8 kilos. This is expected to further increase. We expect to produce more than 900.000 tons of bananas. The number of greenhouses increases every other year.”
 
Following the achievement of the 2023 goal, Turkey might even start exporting bananas, Gumus added.
 
Last year, Turkish banana producers announced that they would stop imports by 2020. However, this goal has not been reached yet.
 
Source: Bloomberg