Mevlana Development Agency held the Karaman Apple Sector Consultation Meeting to introduce the Apple Sector Target Market Research Report, prepared for the apple sector which greatly contributes to Karaman's economy, to sector and relevant institution-organization representatives, and also to consult on issues that could contribute to the apple sector in Karaman.

Mevlana Development Agency Chairman of the Board and Karaman Governor Mehmet Alpaslan Işık, Mevlana Development Agency Secretary General İhsan Bostancı, Karaman Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mustafa Gökhan Alkan, KOP Regional Development Administration President Mahmut Sami Şahin, Karaman Chamber of Agriculture President Mehmet Bayram, TKDK Karaman Provincial Coordinator Özgür Öztürk, MÜSİAD Karaman Branch President İbrahim Taşbaş, apple producers, and sector representatives participated in the meeting held at the Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (TKDK) Karaman Provincial Coordinatorship.

Mevlana Development Agency Chairman of the Board and Karaman Governor Mehmet Alpaslan Işık stated in his assessment, “Our city is among the leading provinces in the food and agriculture sector, as well as the momentum it has gained in the manufacturing industry in recent years. We are pleased that our city is among the top in our country in many aspects of the apple sector, which brings us together today. When the data is examined, it is seen that although our city and our country have such a production capacity, they cannot achieve the desired income in terms of exports. This situation also reveals the fact that the sector needs to be examined in detail in terms of production and export, and new policies need to be developed. At this very point, I have full faith that the Apple Sector Target Market Research Report, which was discussed in detail by our Mevlana Development Agency and shared with sector representatives, will make great contributions to our producer and exporter companies.”

Speaking at the opening of the meeting organized by the institution, Mevlana Development Agency Secretary General İhsan Bostancı said, “At the heart of the new regional development understanding lies the elimination of regional backwardness and enabling each region to contribute to national development and competitiveness by utilizing its own advantages. From this point of view, it is also a fact that policies of different natures need to be developed at the regional level in order to benefit from the potential and internal dynamics of the regions at the highest level and to reduce socio-economic differences. In this framework, as the Agency, we try to stand by all our stakeholders with our financial and technical support programs for the development of our region in every field, as well as our consultancy and guidance services. In addition to these efforts, we also try to shed light on the decisions that our stakeholders will take on issues such as production, employment, export, and investment by preparing sector reports, research, and feasibility reports in order to strengthen the infrastructure of companies operating in our region, increase their competitiveness, and ensure that sectoral developments are monitored. With this aim, the Apple Target Market Research Report prepared by our Agency also discusses the apple sector in detail, analyzes the general situation of the sector, and presents a study aimed at finding new markets with an export-oriented approach. When we look at both the report prepared by our agency and the statistical data related to the apple sector, we see that our province of Karaman is among the leading provinces of our country in terms of production areas, the number of trees it has, and the total apple production obtained. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) data, apples, which constitute approximately 10% of the total fruit production in the world, ranking third after bananas and watermelons, make our city's prominence in apple production even more valuable. When we look at our country, which is among the important countries in world apple production, we see that it increased its apple production from 3.6 Million tons in the 2019/2020 season to 4.3 Million tons in the 2020/2021 period, ranking 4th in the world with this result. Statistical data reveal that apple production in our country, as in the world, has increased by approximately 21% in the last 10 years. When the yield obtained from apple production is compared, it is seen that an average yield of 1.66 tons per decare is obtained in apple production in the world, while this rate is 2.5 tons per decare in our country. We regret to see that our country, which ranks 22nd with this rate, although well above the world average, is in a lower position than countries such as France, which produces 3.2 tons per decare, Italy, which produces 4.48 tons, and the USA, which produces 3.8 tons, with which we compete in foreign markets. China, the world leader in apple production, consumes most of its apple production and exports only 2.4% of its production, yet it can achieve an export volume of over 1 Billion Dollars. When we look at our country, we see that there is a significant production surplus after meeting the domestic market needs. However, despite this, our country can only export 5% of its production. This situation naturally leads to an excess supply in the domestic market and a decrease in producer prices. When we look at the export volumes, our country realizes 2.42% of the world apple export in terms of quantity, while the money we receive constitutes only 1.44% of the total apple market. In other words, the income we obtain as a country from one kilo of apples we export is approximately 1.5 times less than the average income other countries obtain from one kilo of apples. According to the latest published data for 2020, while China earns 1.37 Dollars per kilo and the USA earns 1.06 Dollars per kilo, our country's earnings per kilo are around 0.52 Dollars. The fact that a country that ranks 4th in the world in production, has high quality due to its ecological structure, and has a surplus supply receives only a 110 Million Dollar share from the 8 Billion Dollar export market is an indicator that we still have a lot to do in this sector. These data show that factors such as demand and yield are among the leading factors affecting profitability in apple production, and that growing the products with the varieties and characteristics most demanded by the markets with the highest efficiency is of great importance for sustainability. In this context, as the Agency, we believe that the consultations to be held for increasing productivity and value-added in production in our city, which has a say in apple production in our country, will have positive contributions to our sector.”

The meeting concluded with the presentation of the Apple Sector Target Market Research Report prepared by the Mevlana Development Agency for the Karaman apple sector, followed by a consultation on problems and solution proposals for the apple sector.