Turkey's aquaculture exports have exceeded $1 billion 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 last year, marking a 7% year-on-year rise.

He added that the sector has entered 80 foreign markets.

According to Kızıltan, seabass ranked first among fishery exports at $296 million, followed by sea bream at $255 million, salmon at $104 million and tuna at $86 million. Also, 60% 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 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 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.