Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exports Rose 21% During the Pandemic

Turkchem 09 Feb 2021 36 4 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association Board Chairman Hayrettin UÇAK spoke about pandemic period exports as follows;

During the pandemic, our fresh fruit and vegetable exports increased by 21% to USD 2.731 billion, while processed fruit and vegetable exports reached USD 1.683 billion with an 8% increase. The fresh fruit and vegetable and processed fruit and vegetable sectors aim to increase our exports from USD 4.414 billion in 2020 to USD 5 billion in 2021. Both the world and our country are going through an extraordinary period and we are still experiencing the second wave of the pandemic. However, I can say we have left the most difficult period behind us. We continue our efforts and by exercising maximum care and diligence, we continue to live a near-normal life. I believe our country's agricultural sector has turned this period to a significant advantage with the help of measures taken in the past March-May months. We achieved increases of 25-35% in some agricultural and food sectors in our exports. Countries that are agricultural product producers and net exporters like us managed to keep their agricultural sectors afloat at certain levels despite all adversities. Regarding our products and their yields, we had a very good year with cherries and our harvest was excellent, as a result we set a record with USD 223 million in exports. Our table grape season also went very well, and we experienced no issues either in quality or quantity of the harvest. We are in the citrus season. As an association, we jointly conducted a citrus harvest estimation project with the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute Management, which provides important forecasting advantages to our citrus producers and exporters, and with realistic projections made in the Aegean Region, we shed light for our exporters. Except for oranges, we do not expect any decline in production, and despite the pandemic, we are experiencing a good harvest and production year both in fresh fruits and vegetables and in our processed products.

In 2020, we achieved a 21% increase in Turkey's fresh fruit and vegetable exports compared to 2019 and achieved USD 2.731 billion in exports. In processed fruit and vegetables, we achieved an 8% increase compared to the same period in the previous year, generating USD 1.683 billion in export revenue. The combined total exports of our two main sectors reached USD 4.414 billion. In 2021, we aim to exceed USD 5 billion in export revenue in the fresh fruit and vegetable and processed fruit and vegetable sectors.

I can say there is strong external interest particularly in our products such as dried tomatoes, tomato paste, pickles and fruit juices. The top 3 buyer countries for fresh fruits and vegetables are Russia with USD 950 million in exports, Germany with USD 250 million and Iraq with USD 206 million in exports. We have seen increases in our exports to these three countries compared to the previous year. The total number of countries we exported to reached 144. The top 3 buyer countries for processed fruit and vegetables are Germany with USD 268 million in exports, the United States with USD 208 million and Iraq with USD 171 million in exports. We successfully exported processed products to a total of 186 countries. With little time remaining until the end of 2020, as the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association, we exported USD 346 million in fresh fruits and vegetables and USD 693 million in processed fruit and vegetables in 2020, for a total of USD 1.040 billion in exports. We comfortably exceeded our 2020 target of USD 1 billion in exports. In 2021, we will continue to increase our exports without slowing down, and there is currently an ongoing citrus season. Our pickles, which we export to 120 countries in the world, faced significant demand growth as consumers turned to healthy foods during the epidemic period this year. I believe this growth will continue in the coming season. I expect our exports to continue increasing in both fresh fruits and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetables. The importance of healthy nutrition and food as the most basic need in our lives has been recalled, along with how vital agriculture and food are for people and countries. Particularly countries with strong production capacity like us succeeded both in self-sufficiency and increasing exports, and I believe this success will continue in 2021. To maintain our strength and stability in new markets, our Association has 2 UR-GE Projects. UR-GE Projects, as you know, are projects organized with the support of our Ministry of Trade, which achieve the export of our products and increase the competitive strength of our member firms through promotion and marketing activities in potential and target markets for participating firms, and carry out training and consulting activities for our firms.

As the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association, we have started two new projects covering Fresh Grapes, Cherries, Peaches and Processed Foods. The biggest drawback brought by the pandemic is unfortunately travel restrictions. Although this restriction has affected our projects, we are providing our project participants with many useful training opportunities within the project scope. In 2021, we hope that with the reduced impact of the virus and the opening of country borders, we will be able to carry out the UR-GE trade delegations for which we have prepared very well during this period.

Additionally, we submitted a project proposal under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Research and Development Support Program 16th Project Call to determine and prevent losses in certain fruits. If accepted, we will make significant progress in reducing losses in vegetable and fruit harvesting, which is a major obstacle to our export potential. Unfortunately, due to climate conditions, incorrect harvesting, transportation and storage methods, we lose a significant portion of the vegetables and fruits we produce and cannot consume them. Our aim with this project is to identify and prevent the sources of all these problems. Finally, during this difficult period, I extend my gratitude to our members and farmers who have made a significant contribution to increasing our region's exports, and I hope that 2021 will leave behind all the negative conditions experienced in 2020 and bring health and prosperity.