Turkey's fresh fruit and vegetable exports have increased by 25 percent, a growth that allows it to compete with 85 nations in foreign markets.
While the agricultural output of most countries faced severe declines during the pandemic, Turkey’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports increased more than 25 percent in the first quarter of 2020 despite the country facing a difficult public health crisis. According to Turkey’s Mediterranean Exporters' Association, exports of fresh fruit and vegetables have increased to $640 million.
The association said Turkey fetched $179 million from its exports in the first quarter of 2020, with Russia being the main importer buying fruits and vegetables for $200 million, followed by Romania and Ukraine. The former spent $59.3 million on fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey, while the latter spent $55.4 million.
Hakki Bahar, the chairman of the Western Mediterranean Exporters Association, said that in 2019, 858,000 tons of products were exported between January 1 and the middle of March while this year, the number has crossed 956,000 tons in the same period.
On the other hand, in terms of the value of products, last year the exportation value was $455 million in worth and it had hit more than $580 million between the same dates.
“There is an 11.3 percent increase as kilogram and a 27.6 percent in terms of the foreign currency amount entering the country,” he said.
Russia, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Georgia have been leading customers of Turkish fruits and vegetables.
Source: trtworld.com
