Turkish growers which have been increasing their market share in the global floriculture trade, managed to export 60 million stems of flowers before Valentine’s Day. The exports took place in the 20 days before the 14th of February and the growers earned roughly 6.5 million USD for their efforts.
Speaking to the press, Cut Flowers and Ornamental Plants Exporters Association Chairman Ismail Yilmaz: “The season had not started off well for our growers however the sales for Valentine’s Day were considerably high. We have exported nearly 60 million stems with most of our flowers going to European countries. The top export destination was the Netherlands as usual. This year this country was followed by Uzbekistan which is becoming more and more of a trade destination for our growers as many Turkish construction and landscaping companies undertake projects in this country. The United Kingdom and Germany come after these 2 countries in terms of export volume and turnover.
95 % of our exports are carnations. As we do not have the means and conditions to grow roses at a competitive quality and price point in the global market, we do not have any rose exports.”
Soner Kazaz, an academician from the department of Horticulture in the Faculty of Agriculture at the Ankara University, disagreed with the export figures announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute. Soner Kazaz: “Turkey’s cut flower and ornamental plant exports are not 100 million USD, it is only 71.2 million USD.
Turkey’s floriculture production areas have increased by 259.45 % in the last 20 years. Our exports have increased by % 1,174 during the same time period and reached to 71.2 million USD in 2018. Among sub-product categories, cut flowers are the top export product group for our growers with an annual export turnover of 34.1 million USD followed by outdoor plant with an annual export turnover of 25 million USD. The bulb exports have been steadfastly declining in recent years after the state’s restriction on the export of bulbs.”
In the published report titled “The Current Situation and Future in Floriculture”, the strengths, and weaknesses of the industry are listed as below:
Strengths:
- Geographical proximity to target markets such as Europe and Russia
- Suitable and different climate conditions within the country
- Rich biodiversity
- High product quality in some particular products
- Production and marketing know-how in cut flowers
- The existence of cut flower auctions in the country as a market place
- The activities of sectoral trade associations
- High-value added industry
- The presence of growers looking for improvements
- Higher profitability compared to other agricultural products
- Established already a strong market position in the global trade of carnations
Weaknesses:
- The dependency on abroad for production materials
- The lack of a master production plan
- High costs of production materials such as fertilizers, chemicals, seeds
- Insufficient production infrastructure and use of technological equipment
- Unrecorded production
- The lack of available compact land to build large greenhouses
- Lack of public awareness about the added value of the industry
- The high number of growers with limited capacity and no technological capabilities
- Only a few modern greenhouses
- The lack of capital and financing
- Insufficient sectoral organization
Source: Yeni Safak