SİNAN KIZILTAN: AQUACULTURE EXPORTS EXCEED 1 BILLION DOLLARS

Turkey's aquaculture exports have exceeded 1 billion dollars in revenue from the sale of fish grown in farms around the country.

Sinan Kızıltan, chairman of the Fisheries and Animal Products Sector Board of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Turkey exported aquaculture worth 1.02 billion dollars last year, marking a 7 percent year-on-year rise.

He added that the sector has entered 80 foreign markets.

According to Kızıltan, sea bass ranked first among fishery exports at 296 million dollars, followed by sea bream at 255 million dollars, salmon at 104 million dollars and tuna at 86 million dollars. Also 60 percent of aquaculture exports went to EU countries.

Indicating that Turkish aquaculture had gained significant success in the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Japan and Greece, he noted that focus would be placed on increasing exports to the Far Asian market.

CHINESE MARKET IN SIGHT

Kızıltan said that they had entered the Chinese market last year and predict rapid growth. Emphasizing that they would step into the Chinese market with 20 million dollars in exports, he continued: "When we adapt tuna and Turkish salmon to China, we will have added this country alongside Japan, which is the single market in this area for now. In general, we aim to export seafood products worth 1.1 billion dollars in 2020."

Explaining how the sector had not achieved its desired performance in terms of domestic production despite the export success, Kızıltan said that while the annual consumption of fisheries was around 22-23 kilograms in EU countries, this figure remained around 5-6 kilograms in Turkey.