New Season New Hopes
2-minute read
In Antalya, the leading city in Türkiye for undercover (greenhouse) vegetable production, we are continuing our preparations for the new season together, without slowing down. Along the coastline from Kaş to Gazipaşa, our producers have prepared their greenhouses, planted their seedlings, and are now eagerly waiting for the first harvest. Ahead of the season, our exporting companies have also started planning with importers around the world and, like our producers, are looking forward to the first products of the new harvest. I wish a successful season to everyone involved in our sector.
As the Western Mediterranean Exporters Association (BAİB), we are working to strengthen the region’s exports and increase our export figures across all sectors. Through the sectoral trade delegations we organize, our fair visits, and our UR-GE Projects, we bring our companies together with importers in different markets. With our B2B programs, we enable our member companies to hold business meetings with importers from target countries.
Within this framework, since 2022, we have organized 34 programs, taken 450 companies to 20 different countries, and enabled them to hold around 4,200 business meetings with approximately 1,000 companies. Also since 2022, the Western Mediterranean Exporters Association has participated in 27 fairs across Asia, Europe, the Americas, North Africa, and the Far East with a stand.
As the Western Mediterranean Exporters Association, we will continue our efforts in the period ahead in line with our mission to increase the region’s exports. We will organize new trade delegations and launch new UR-GE Projects. I would like to take this opportunity to invite all our companies to take part in these activities, where both the state and our Association provide significant financial support.
As is well known, our region reached USD 2.7 billion in exports in 2025. In 2020, this figure was USD 1.9 billion; in 2015, USD 1.4 billion; and in 2010, USD 1.0 billion. These numbers show that exports in the Western Mediterranean Region have continued to grow steadily. From time to time, certain challenges we have faced, and in some cases still face, can naturally have a negative impact on the figures. However, these problems are not permanent. Once the issues affecting our region’s exports are resolved, the picture will change significantly.
As of the day I am writing this article, our region’s fresh fruit and vegetable sector has exported USD 583.5 million. Compared to last year, this represents a 10% decline. I would like to underline that this drop is driven by temporary difficulties. Compared to the same period last year, the decrease amounts to USD 63 million. Almost all of this loss is due to cherries. Due to frost damage, we experienced crop losses and were unable to secure enough product for export. As mentioned above, occasional crises can negatively affect our exports. Still, in periods without such issues, the overall trend remains upward.
On this occasion, I would like to thank all stakeholders in our sector on behalf of BAİB. I wish everyone a successful fresh fruit and vegetable season. I wish our producers a year free of disasters. Together with our companies, the driving force of our region’s exports, we will continue our efforts to increase our export figures.
Ümit Mirza Çavuşoğlu
Western Mediterranean Exports Association
Chairman of the Board
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