Extensive incentives and facilities provided for the agricultural industry have also been reflected in the sector's exports, which reached $107.32 billion in the last five years.
Data compiled from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) showed that exports in the agricultural field last year rose by 6.6 percent year-on-year.
The contribution of the agricultural sector to overall exports last year reached $22.65 billion. The same figure stood at $21.22 billion and $20.21 billion in 2017 and 2016, respectively. In 2015 and 2014, the sector's exports totaled $20.77 billion and $22.45 billion, respectively.
Turkey's exports reached an all-time high of $168.1 billion, a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase, in 2018, supporting the decrease in the foreign trade deficit by 28.4 percent to $55 billion. Imports also decreased by 4.6 percent to $223.1 billion.
The export-import coverage ratio increased by 8.2 percentage points compared to 2017 and rose to 75.3 percent. The overall foreign trade volume slightly rose by 0.1 percent to $391.2 billion.
Agricultural exports in the last five years hit $107.32 billion, boosted by the extensive incentives and facilities provided for the sector.
In this period, exports of herbal products reached $74.42 billion. Among others, exports of animal products and wood and forest products reached $10.75 billion and $22.15 billion, respectively.
Last year, the highest export volume in agriculture was made to Iraq with $3.63 billion, followed by Germany with $1.53 billion and the U.S. with a little over $1 billion. When looking at the subsectors, the highest exports volume was made in cereals, pulses, oil seeds and finished goods with $6.69 billion, followed by furniture, paper and forest products with over $5 billion and water products and animal products with $2.51 billion.
