According to the data of the Southeastern Anatolian Exporters' Associations, Turkey's tomato exports in 2022 increased by 4% compared to 2021 and reached 377 million 418 thousand dollars.
Turkey exported 526,703 tons of tomatoes to 54 countries of the world in 2022, including Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Germany, England, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Russia, Poland and Malaysia.
While tomato exports on the basis of value were 362 million 993 thousand dollars in 2021, it became 377 million 418 thousand dollars in 2022.
Romania, which imports 65 million 228 thousand dollars worth of tomatoes from Turkey; In 2022, it became the country that bought the most tomatoes from Turkey. This country was followed by Ukraine with 45 million 320 thousand dollars and Bulgaria with 38 million 113 thousand dollars.
In his statement, Müslüm Yanmaz, President of the Greenhouse Investors and Producers Association, said that the growth in tomato exports compared to last year was pleasing, but that the exporter could not reach the desired figure.
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According to him, the decline in the Russian market did not allow to increase the export figures.
“Previously, about 200 million dollars of tomato exports were made to Russia annually. Unfortunately, last year that figure dropped to $33 million. Meanwhile, the increase in exports to the Balkan countries actually compensated for the market contraction in Russia.”
According to him, cluster tomatoes are in great demand in the European market. “The tomato export figures for 2022 are obviously not what we expected. We are slowly losing the Russian market. Many agricultural producing countries, especially Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, are seriously assertive in the Russian market. The increase in freight costs with the crisis also caused a decrease in deliveries to the Russian market. Our goal is to increase tomato exports to 500 million dollars,” he said.