Volume of Turkish citrus fruit sales in KSA jump by 39% in 2016

The Turkish Citrus Promotion Group (CPG) has announced that the sale of Turkish citrus fruit in Saudi Arabia has increased by 39 percent in 2016 compared to the volume of sales in 2015. This equates to over 101 million kilograms of citrus fruit with a total export value of $ 55.5 million. The announcement was made by the Chairman of the Turkish Citrus Promotion Group Ali Kavak at a gala event held at the Jeddah InterContinental Hotel on Wednesday.

The event, attended by Turkish Consul General Fikret Özer, was held to celebrate and promote Turkish citrus fruits among some of the Kingdom’s leading supermar- kets, five- star hotels, importers and media representatives.

Ali Kavak, chairman of Turkish Citrus Promotion Group said: “A major competitive advantage of Turkish citrus is its superior quality. Our main purpose is to carry out promotional activities in order to increase citrus consumption and improve consumer habits by introducing the nutritional and organoleptic superiority of Turkish citrus.”

Turkey benefits from an excellent climatic and ecological environment, which enhances the production of many fruit and vegetable varieties, especially in citrus fruit cultivation. Today, Turkish citrus fruit cultivation repre- sents 3.74 percent of the world’s total citrus production. 84.2 percent of Turkey’s citrus fruit is produced in the Mediterranean region, with the main production areas in Mersin, Adana and Hatay provinces, where 81 percent of Turkish lemons, 95.6 percent of Turkish grapefruit, 53 percent of oranges and 72.2 percent of mandarin fruits are produced.

The Middle East as a regional market has long recognised the nutritional value and superior taste of Turkish citrus fruits. In 2016, the Middle East was Turkey’s second largest regional market after Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).