Due to the decrease wholesale food suppliers in natural areas and population increase in the world, the desire of people to feed with fresh and natural foods has increased and the agricultural sector has gained importance. It attaches great importance to the agricultural sector, especially due to the insufficiency of agricultural products in EU countries after the Second World War.
Climatic conditions in Turkey when compared with other countries and in all seasons thanks to its geographical location and the country is a major food supplier for the wholesale fruit and vegetable production is done in natural conditions in each region. In recent years, an average of 28.7 million tons of vegetables and 17.3 million tons of fruit have been produced. Turkey has an important position as a producer country. The ratio of exports to production is 3.9%. Turkey is the country that most EU countries are the wholesale food supplier.
In recent years, there has been an increase and decrease in the production of vegetable products. The most important of these were tomato 0.8%, onion 5.2%, carrot 62% increase; green pepper 6.1%, bell pepper 8%, zucchini 7.3%, bean 7.4%, spinach 2.6% and melon 5.7%.
Likewise, there have been changes in the production of important fruit products. The most important of these are apple 22%, pear 12%, apricot 21%, plum 12%, cherry 48%; olive 39%, orange 7%, lemon 8%, pistachio 33%, hazelnut 19%, banana 6%.
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable
The most produced vegetables are tomato, grape, apple, eggplant and pepper. Approximately 9.8 million tons of tomatoes, 4 million tons of grapes, 2.1 million tons of apples, 925 thousand tons of eggplant and 710 thousand tons of pepper are produced annually. 65% of vegetable and fruit production is met from the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara regions.
Turkey’s biggest wholesale food supplier that items: watermelon, cantaloupe, cherries, table grapes, tomatoes, onions, peppers and citrus fruit. In recent years, the most exported product among fresh fruits is cherry-sour cherry. Later, grapes, strawberries and figs were exported. As for fresh vegetables, the most exported product is tomato. Later, peppers, potatoes and onions were exported, respectively. In citrus, the most exported product is lemon.
The EU is the most important market with 40% of which Turkey is a wholesale food supplier. The most important countries are USA, Germany, UK. The product we export the most is tomato, which constitutes 27% of total vegetable exports. The most important country is Germany. 40% of the total fresh fruit and vegetable exports are made to Germany.
