Central Anatolian Ornamental Plants Exporters Union President Ismail Yilmaz: “We have exported 42 million stems of cut flowers to 35 countries for this year’s Mother’s Day which generated a revenue of 7 million USD for our country. Additionally because of the high temperatures of the season, the products for Mother’s Day was the last products of the season. Turkish flowers are in high demand in many markets, including Netherlands, Germany, Uzbekistan and United Kingdom.
The varieties most preferred by the market are carnations, gerbera, ranunculus and some other varieties. Additionally we sold approximately the same amount of flowers on the local market.”
Former Central Anatolian Ornamental Plants Exporters Union President Osman Bagdatlioglu provided information about the export figures so far: “Turkish growers have exported 80 million stems of cut flowers to 48 countries. In terms of turnover, the exports have increased from 6 million USD to 11 million USD compared to the same period of the last year. This represents a 60% increase. We have exported mostly to the Netherlands and United Kingdom.
We are also glad that we were able to start exporting to Russia again. It is only the 16th country in the export rankings at the moment but the restrictions to Turkish exports have just recently been lifted so we are hoping that the upcoming months will be fruitful for us in the Russia market. However we need to spend a lot of effort to regain our position in this market.
The exports to Ukraine have declined a little bit but the exports to Poland increased by 378 %. Carnations are the most exported variety followed by gerbera, chrysanthemum and green trick. There was a lot of demand especially on Women’s Day on March 8th from Europe. As the weather was very good on February, the productivity has increased and the products became ready sooner.
The cut flower exports for the first 2 months of 2018 has increased by 49.9 % compared to the previous year, increasing from 15 million USD to 24 million USD. Our target for 2018 is 100 million USD and I believe we will easily reach this target.”
Antalya is the center of cut flower production in Turkey and mostly women are employed in greenhouses. Around 20,000 women work in this industry in Antalya, making up almost 80 % of the workforce.
Kadriye Tantik, a female greenhouse employee: “I have been working here for nearly 8 years and I process around 1,500 – 2,000 stems of flowers daily. I’m very glad that these flowers reach people all around the world”
Former Central Anatolian Ornamental Plants Exporters Union President Osman Bagdatlioglu continued: “Due to favorable climate conditions, we have year round cut flower production in the country. We can grow flowers on coastal cities such as Antalya and Izmir and we can grow flowers also in high altitude plains. The production in Turkey continues to increase and so is the interest in flowers. The demand increases significantly on special days such as Valentine’s Day, Women’s Day and Mother’s Day and flowers are not only sold in florists anymore. Supermarket chains also started to sell flowers in their stores year around which creates another sales outlet for growers.
This industry creates a lot of added value for the country, last year we broke the record for exports with 83 million USD and we want to reach 100 million USD level for the first time this year. Last year we have exported around 380 million stems of flowers. Our target this year is 400 million stems. I believe these numbers will keep increasing in upcoming years. There is a need to establish organized production areas and it is difficult to bring in foreign investors into the country as the industry cannot benefit from government grants and incentives. We would like to lower the amount of imports and increase exports.
Another misconception in the country is promoting donations instead of sending wreaths to funerals and various other events. In total 300,000 people earn money from this industry and this kind of promotions hurt the industry.
As we do not have a wide assortment in production, we are forced to import the products which are demanded by the local market. Growers have to act together and start producing new varieties. The import figures have increased from 20 million USD to 100 million USD within a period of 5 years. The industry is 300 – 500 years old in the world whereas it is 20-30 years old in this country. I believe the government and people have realized how important this industry is and that gives us hope for the future.”
According to the data received from Turkish Statistical Institute, the exports of cut flowers and ornamental plants have increased by 4.8 % in 2017. The total exports in this product category amounted to 85.5 million USD and the Netherlands was the main export country at 18 million USD. The Netherlands was followed by United Kingdom at 11.7 million USD and by Uzbekistan at 11.1 million USD.
Looking in detail to these export figures, carnations make up almost 32% of the exports by 27.4 million USD. United Kingdom topped the list for carnation exports with 11.3 million USD followed by the Netherlands with 10.4 million USD and Romania with 2.2 million USD
Turkey exported 457,000 USD worth of roses and 6.3 million USD worth of other varieties last year.
Izmir, another important region for cut flower production in Turkey was extremely busy before Valentine’s Day. The flower auctions in the city has been packed with products and buyers. The auction was filled with carnations and roses grown all around Turkey. Last year due to unfavorable climate conditions, most of the local demand had to be met by imported products but this year due to good weather conditions, local products arrived just in time at good quality for this special day.
Izmir Chamber of Florists Chairman Kazim Kis: “There were a lot of good quality products available at our auction this year. Last year due to heavy snow, many greenhouses sustained significant damages in Menderes, Izmir which consequently impacted production negatively. That’s why the market needed a lot of imported products last year but this year we had enough products to fulfill the local market needs. The quality and assortment of roses caught up with the imported products. We expect 12 million stems of roses to be sold in Turkey this day. The prices will be the same as last year and the claims that roses are too expensive is simply inaccurate. One stem of rose will be sold between 1.75 USD and 3.75 USD depending on its quality. Also e-commerce sites have been damaging our industry a lot and forcing a lot of florists to close down their shops.”
Source: Haberturk