Sharp Rise in Tropical Fruit Exports

Turkey increased tropical fruit exports by 85 per cent in 2021 to USD 13 million, while in the first half of 2022, tropical fruit exports reached USD 7.857 million. Hayrettin Uçak, President of the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association, stated that Turkey is expanding its value chain year on year: "In particular, our rising graph in tropical fruit exports in recent years demonstrates this clearly. Over the four-year period from 2018 to 2021, we increased our tropical fruit exports by 225 per cent. Turkey's total tropical fruit exports were USD 4 million in 2018, USD 5 million in 2019, USD 6 million in 2020, and in 2021 we raised our exports to USD 13 million with an 85 per cent jump. Starting with kiwi and avocado, we have expanded our tropical fruit product range by adding dragon fruit, passion fruit, carambola, papaya, mangosteen, guava pear, mango, pineapple, coconut, blueberry, kumquat and similar products." Uçak continued: "Our kiwi exports, with Russia in the lead, reached USD 5.454 million. Mango, which achieved the highest growth, rose from USD 144,000 to USD 1.126 million. The United Kingdom ranks first in our mango exports with USD 948,000. Our blueberry exports, led by Germany, increased from USD 524,000 to USD 761,000. In 2020 we exported tropical fruits to approximately 60 countries, and we increased this to 83 countries and regions in 2021. We project that by the end of 2022 we will be able to raise our tropical fruit exports to USD 20 million." Hayrettin Uçak noted that Russia and Romania, Turkey's main markets for fresh fruit and vegetables, retained their positions in tropical fruit exports in the first half of 2022: "We have exports of USD 1.467 million to Russia and USD 920,000 to Romania, a 10 per cent increase. In the EU, the largest consumer market for tropical fruit, we have significantly increased our population since last year. Our exports to the United Kingdom rose from USD 119,000 last year to USD 981,000 in the first six months of 2022. Thus the United Kingdom rose to third place among countries to which we exported the most in the first half of 2022. We increased our exports to Germany from USD 447,000 by 38 per cent to USD 621,000. Spain also ranks among the top destinations for our tropical fruit exports with USD 553,000."