The Turkish ornamental plant industry has managed to export 71.2 million USD worth of products and reported a trade surplus of 10 million USD. In the first 4 months of 2019, the import volume in the ornamental plant industry also went down by 45%.
Speaking to the press, Turkish Ornamental Plants Association (SUSBIR) President Ahmet Dundar: “Turkish ornamental plant industry has a foreign trade volume of 130 million USD. Our growers have increased their exports to European Union countries by 33% in 2018. 45% of our tree and outdoor plant exports were sold to European Union countries. Netherlands, Germany, and Italy stood out as the top export destinations for our growers.
The ornamental plant industry is a labor-intensive industry and compared to the other agricultural product lines, there is more need for labor. Generally, greenhouses need 3 employees per 1,000 square meters and 1 employee per 1,000 square meters for open field production areas. Even though our growers try to utilize technological equipment as much as possible, the need for qualified labor still continues. Furthermore this industry creates a lot of jobs specifically for women which have significant added value for the national economy. By our calculations, 78,000 people are directly employed in this industry and the industry in total creates around 500,000 jobs directly and indirectly.”
Source: DHA