Antalya's Alanya district produces 70% of the total number of avocados in Turkey. This year, the aim is to produce 60 million avocados throughout the country in a total area of 40 thousand hectares.
The avocado was first brought to Turkey from Mexico in 1953, but commercial production only started in Antalya (Alanya and Gazipasa) and Mersin (Anamur) in the 1990's. Last year, Alanya alone produced 40 million avocados. The wholesale price for avocado is 2 to 2,5 Lira (0,3 to 0,4 Euro), it costs 4 to 5 Lira (0,6 to 0,8 Euro) in grocery stores.
An abundance of avocado this year
Hilmi Sevilgen, the head of Alanya Avocado Producers' Association, said that producers are content with the avocado production this year and that the prices are at normal levels. Sevilgen added: "Thanks to the good weather avocado production is abundant and the quality is good".
Sevilgen emphasized that they exported avocados to Ukraine, Romania, Russia and Iran and said: "We exported to 5 different countries this year. These include Ukraine, Romania, Russia and Iran. Recently, Azerbaijan asked for avocados, however we were finished with the harvest then, so we couldn't send any. We often say that we need to produce more avocados, but the good news is that we increase the production day by day. We used to produce 20 million avocados, this was increased to 40 million in 2018. Now we expect 60 million of avocados in Turkey this year."
Source: Hurriyet