This year’s income from the export of tea, one of Turkiye’s important agricultural products, reached $20 million 444 thousand 962 as of the end of September.
According to data from the Eastern Black Sea Exporters Association (DKIB), tea, which grows in humid climates and whose leaves and buds are used as beverages, was sold from Turkiye to 111 countries, autonomous and free zones in January-September 2023.
Tea export revenue, which was recorded as $16 million 592 thousand 424 in the third quarter of last year, increased by 23% and reached $20 million 444 thousand 962.
The highest demand for Turkish tea, whose exports increase every year, came from Belgium, the USA and the United Kingdom.
In the 9-month period of the year, $7 million 639 thousand 771 were earned for the sale of 1921 tons of tea to Belgium. This country was followed by the USA with $2 million 389 thousand 135 and the United Kingdom with $2 million 320 thousand 316.
Unlike the same period last year, tea was exported to Poland, Congo, Slovakia, Italy, Brazil, Gabon, New Zealand, Portugal, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Togo and Rwanda this period.
“We want to get more share from world markets”
DKIB Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Tea Sector Committee Saban Turgut said that they expect tea exports to exceed $25 million by the end of the year.
Emphasizing that they want to get a larger share from the world markets, Turgut said, “Although we produce the most natural tea in the world, the fact that we cannot produce innovative value-added products according to the consumer preferences of each country causes our share in the world markets to remain low. It is important that our tea manufacturing companies focus on this.”
Turgut stated that the tourism potential has a positive impact on tea exports and added that tourists coming to Turkiye consume Turkish tea with pleasure and demand it in their own countries.
“We have developed various projects to increase the market diversity of Turkish tea”
Pointing out that the primary export market for Turkish tea is Belgium, Turgut said, “Importer companies have warehouses in Belgium and the products placed in these warehouses are distributed to all European Union countries with a dense Turkish population. In other words, Turkish tea exported to Belgium is distributed to all of Europe.” “
Turgut stated that, as DKIB, they have developed various projects to increase the awareness of Turkish tea in foreign markets and increase market diversity, and concluded his words as follows:
“Within the scope of the Supporting the Development of International Competitiveness (UR-GE) project called Increasing the Export Capacity and Ensuring the Sustainability of Turkish Tea, marketing activities such as participating in leading food fairs will continue intensively in the coming months. In addition, within the scope of the promotion project that we are in the preparation phase, we will continue our efforts to increase exports to higher figures through Turkish tea tasting events and advertising campaigns abroad.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz