Nejdat Sin, head of the Mediterranean Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Exporters' Association (AKIB) said that the revenue from fresh fruits and vegetables exports totaled 200 million USD (175,7 million Euro), and the revenue from citrus exports totaled 103,5 million USD (90,9 million Euro). He added that exporter companies showed a great effort to market the products even though heavy rain for the past two months affected the harvest.
In January 2019, AKIB alone exported 73% of the total citrus export, and 60% of the total fresh fruits and vegetables in Turkey. Mandarin was the top export product in January which was followed by lemon and tomato. Turkey earned 44,1 million USD (38,7 million Euro) from mandarin exports in the first month of the year. The top importer of Turkish fresh fruits and vegetables was Russia with 27% which was followed with Iraq, Ukraine and Germany.
Despite the bad weather conditions, conflicts around the border and the Mediterranean fruit fly, Nejdat Sin, head of AKIB welcomed these numbers and said that they were higher than their expectations. Sin stated that citrus products add a great value to the overall fresh produce sector in terms both of economic and social. He emphasized that mandarin, lemon and orange ranked in the top 5 among overall fresh produce exports in January. While these three products constituted 61% of the total fresh produce exports in volume, they constituted 52% of the total revenue.
Sin said that they run a campaign in Russia on citrus and explained: "We managed to introduce citrus into Russian households. Thanks to our communication strategy, our products became a well-known brand under the name of "Turkish citrus". Russia has become an indispensable market for Turkey."
