Rose, which is the symbol of Valentine’s Day remains an important international trade commodity for Turkey. The international trade volume combining all rose exports and imports for the country in the last 5 years is reported to be around 22.2 million USD in total.
According to the data received from the Turkish Statistical Institute, nearly 490 million stems of roses are grown in Turkey within the last 5 years in 200 hectares of production area. Last year rose production has increased by 0.6 % and reached 98.1 million stems. The majority of the rose production in Turkey took place in the city of Adana with 29.7 million stems of roses being grown in this city. Adana is followed by Izmir and Yalova with 26 million and 17.5 million stems respectively.
Turkish growers have in total exported 3.9 million USD worth of roses within the last 5 years. The top export destination for Turkish roses was Turkmenistan with 170,426 USD worth of exports last year.
Turkmenistan was followed by Iraq with 162,470 USD worth of exports. The total rose export turnover in the last year was 460,000 USD which was down from 489,413 USD in 2018. Turkish growers had exported as much as 1.99 million USD worth of roses in 2015 but this volume dropped dramatically in the following years with only 538,000 USD and 457,000 USD worth of exports in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Turkish importers have imported 18.2 million USD worth of roses in the last 5 years. In 2019, the import figure for roses was around 2.9 million USD which was a slight increase compared to the import volume of 2.56 million USD in 2018. Turkey’s rose import numbers also show a marked decline, dropping from 5.3 million USD in 2015 to all the way to current levels.
Turkish importers preferred the Netherlands as the main source for importing roses with 1.98 million USD worth of roses coming from this country to Turkey. The Netherlands was followed by Kenya with 688,000 USD worth of roses imported into Turkey.
Speaking to the press, Turkish Growers Association (SUSBIR) Chairman Ahmet Dundar: “Among cut flowers, roses are the 3rd most grown product in Turkey after carnations and gerbera. In the domestic market, there is always a very high demand for red roses especially around Valentine’s Day.”
Source: Haberturk