Turkey’s exports of fruit increased by a third and vegetables by 9% in the four years to 2013, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).
The country is now a major exporter of agricultural products, both to the Middle East and other markets, it said in its report “Turkish Agricultural Exports Continue to Surge“.
Turkey’s farm exports have tripled in the last decade and were valued at more than $16 billion in 2013. It now comes after only India, China and Ukraine in terms of the highest export growth rates among the world’s top 20 agricultural exporters.
Middle East a major motor for Turkey’s export growth
Although the EU-28 remains Turkey’s largest export market, nearly all of Turkey’s growth in trade has been to developing countries, especially those in the Middle East, FAS said.
Iraq: In 2013, nearly a quarter of Turkey’s agricultural exports went to Iraq. Exports there more than doubled in just three years – from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $3.5 billion in 2013 – led by vegetable oil, flour, poultry and chicken eggs.
Syria: The turmoil in Syria has also increased its import demand. Turkish agricultural exports to Syria quadrupled in 2013, and rose another 50% in the first half of 2014.
Russia: Turkish exports to Russia, in particular, have been strengthening and could increase even more this year in light of Russia’s year-long ban on a wide range of agricultural products from the EU, United States, Canada, Australia, and Norway.
Africa: Turkish exports to Sub-Saharan Africa have also skyrocketed.
Read the report here.