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Opportunities For Food Exports in Turkey
Did you know that Turkey is one of the largest producers of agricultural products, and hence is an attractive destination for foreign agricultural investors? Some of the products that are produced by Turkey include; cherries, tea, hazelnuts, tobacco, apricots, figs, eggplants, tomatoes, and pomegranates. This means that there are good opportunities for food exports in Turkey. If the investor is smart and knows the business, establishing a company in Turkey in the agricultural sector might be very profitable.
Be sure to seek aid from an experienced legal firm in Turkey during this whole process.
The Turkish economy relies heavily on food production. The food and beverage business accounts for over 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and it is set to grow much more.[1]
By 2023, the Turkish government has set an aim of significantly boosting food production. This overarching objective is broken down into smaller goals, such as attaining $150 billion in the gross agricultural domestic product, $40 billion in agricultural exports, establishing $8.5 million hectares of irrigable land (up from 5.4 million), and being the EU’s number one in fisheries.[1]
Turkish Laws That Govern the Export and Import of Food Products
There is strict control regulation for the export and import of agricultural products in Turkey. If you wish to start as a foreign investor in Turkey for business in agricultural products, you need to strictly adhere to the laws and the regulations laid down by Turkish officials. Some of the laws are mentioned below for your knowledge:
- Registry and confirmation of food business in the country.
- Hygiene must also be taken care of by the investor companies.
- Office control of plant origin food and also feed import regulation that is imposed by the customs authority of Turkey.
- Placement of feeds in Market and their usage along with the food codex microbiological criteria regulation.
- The working procedure and also the principles of risk assessment commissions and committee’s regulation that is in place.
- The health certificate for plant origin food and the feed export. Along with it also the implementation of regulation for all those products that have been returned from the export.
Documents Required for Food Import and Export in Turkey
There is certain documentation that must be produced and completed by the companies in order to do import or export business in Turkey. To do food exports in Turkey, some of the documents that you must keep in hand are mentioned below:
- The license of import and export obtained from Turkey is given on registration with the customs authorities of Turkey.
- The bill of the transport along with the commercial invoice. The transportation bill can be either or all of the shipment, landing, and airway.
- The certificate of origin for the agricultural products.
- The agricultural products must also have the mark of conformity compliance on their labels before the export.
- One of the mandatory documents is the phytosanitary certificate for agricultural commodities.
Turkey offers great opportunities for import-export business for foreign investors. It is indeed a good time to explore the investment opportunities in the country.
References
- Yasemin Ozturk, Swiss Business Hub Turkey. (2021, March 26). Food production in Turkey and opportunities for Swiss SMEs. S-GE. https://www.s-ge.com/en/article/global-opportunities/20211-c5-food-turkey-market-overview
