Turkish Viticulture And Its Status In The World

Abstract

Grape production of the world has observed to be around 72 million tons in nearly 6.6 million ha area by 2023. The largest area under vines will be in Spain, with 913,000 hectares, followed by France, Italy, China and Türkiye. In terms of production, the highest value is in China with 13.5 million tonnes, followed by Italy, France, USA and Spain. Türkiye ranks fifth in the world with 5.7% of the total vineyard area. In terms of grape production, it ranks seventh with 4.7% of the total world production. Approximately 53% of the total grape production in the country is used for table grapes, 29% for seedless raisins, 9% for seeded raisins and 9% for wine-must. It was found that the vineyard area in Türkiye decreased by 9.4% and grape production by 13.6% over the last five years (2018-2023). Due to unfavorable climatic conditions and the resulting mildew damage in the 2023 season, production has decreased. Türkiye is the leading exporter of high-quality sultana raisins. The most common grape variety is Sultan 7 (V. Vinifera L.), developed by the Manisa Viticulture Research Institute. Over the past decade, seedless raisin (sultana raisin) production has averaged around 1.1 million tons, accounting for 29% of total grape production. Türkiye, the world's leading raisin exporter, also accounts for about 30 percent of the world's raisin export. Over the last ten years, it has exported around 240,000 tonnes of dried grapes, worth an average of $458 million. The Aegean region alone accounts for 39.2% of the country's total grape production and 40.3% of the total area under vines. Moreover, Manisa province is the country's grape capital, producing about 70% of the region's total grape production and 91% of seedless raisin production.