TURKISH FOOD INDUSTRY

Turkey is the largest producer and exporter of agricultural products in the Near East and North African region. The favorable climate conditions and relatively unpolluted land allow Turkey to produce a large variety of products in high quantities exported throughout the world. Over half of the land in Turkey is arable. The leading sector of Turkish agriculture is vegetal production. Turkey’s fresh fruit industry produces approximately 13 million tons of produce with a variety ranging from temperate to tropical products. About 40% of Turkey’s fresh fruit industry consists of grape-like fruits.

Turkey is also a large producer of nuts and dried fruits. Turkey is the number one producer and exporter of hazelnuts, dried apricots and figs in the world. Turkey is one of the few countries in the world with a favorable climate for hazelnut production and produces about 70% of worldwide hazelnut production.

As bread is a staple food of Turkey, cereals constitute a large portion of Turkish agriculture and are grown on about 75% of arable land. High production of cereals and cereal-based products has driven Turkey’s exports of agricultural produce to 19%. Turkey is also the second biggest exporter of wheat in the world. Wheat is the leading crop in Turkey and wheat flour factories are in almost every province.

Turkey is a major producer of olive oil as well. Turkey holds the second place in table olive production and fourth in olive oil production in the world. Turkish olive oil is an important ingredient in many Turkish dishes and is well known throughout the world. Turkish olive oil is in demand in every part of the world and is exported to over 90 countries. With its highly diversified production base, Turkey offers a wide range of agricultural products to the world at notably competitive prices.

Turkey’s processed food sector has many world leading products. The sugar and chocolate confectionary industry has increased its product variety and volume in the past few years. Turkey is self sufficient in the production of sugar which has led to sugar confectionary having a great role in Turkish traditions. Confectionaries are widely exchanged as gifts during religious festivals, wedding ceremonies and celebrations. Although the sugar and chocolate confectionary sector in Turkey is historically based on the production of traditional Turkish confectionary products such as Turkish delight and halva, other confectionary products such as chocolate confectionary and chewing gum are growing rapidly. The Turkish chocolate industry has been growing international, recently with the acquisition of Godiva by the Turkish Ülker Group. The Turkish gum sector is very competitive, due to the presence of powerful local and multinational companies, and has steadily increased production of sugared gum, sugar-free gum, and bubble gum since 2000.

The pasta industry in Turkey is one of the biggest in the world. Semolina and macaroni factories were among the first branches of the food industry to be established in Turkey. Today, annual production of pasta in Turkey is over 600,000 thousand tons and is exported to over 100 countries. Turkey exports mainly uncooked pasta without egg, constituting up to 80-90% of the total Turkish pasta exports so far.