Turkey aims to increase tomato exports

Turkey has invested heavily in greenhouse infrastructure and is now able to produce and export tomatoes all year round. Turkey’s tomato exports were worth US$603.6 million in 2018, but the country’s agricultural sector aims to break the $1 billion barrier. Fresh tomato exports were the main product ($292 million), followed by tomato paste ($164 million), dried tomato ($88 million), frozen tomatoes ($39.4 million) and tomato sauces ($16.3 million).

The main market for Turkish tomatoes was its neighbour Romania, with exports worth $43.7 million, followed by Russia ($30.6 million) and Ukraine ($25.6 million). Iraq is the top market for Turkey’s tomato paste exports ($111 million). As for Turkey’s dried tomato exports, the US was the number-one destination, ($19.5 million), followed by Italy ($13.3 million) and Germany ($9.5 million).