In Saruhanlı and Turgutlu districts of Manisa, one of the important centers of dried tomatoes in Turkey, the drying tomato work has begun. In the city where there are tomatoes for paste on an area of 104 thousand 410 acres, tomatoes collected from 26 thousand acres have begun to be laid out on the fields for drying. The tomatoes collected by the workers in the field are cut by hand in some fields and laid out in the sun by machine in some fields.
After the salting process, the tomatoes are left to dry for 1 week and then processed in the facilities and exported. They are exported to various countries, primarily the Philippines, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Thailand, and Greece. While 1 million 150 thousand 67 tons of dried tomatoes were exported in 2023, 277 thousand 47 tons of dried tomatoes were exported as of June 2024.
100 TL PRICE EXPECTATION FROM THE MANUFACTURER
Stating that they produce dried tomatoes on a 5 thousand decare area in Saruhanlı district, Saruhanlı Chamber of Agriculture President Aydoğan Okur said, “Although tomatoes have made some money in the past years, they are not making money this year due to economic conditions. The producer is trying to process the tomatoes in order not to leave their products on the field. We are sending the dried tomatoes we produce to various countries in the foreign market. The price of tomatoes, which was 70 TL last year, is not yet clear this year. We hope it will not remain below 100 TL. Because the high costs direct us not to sell below 100 TL. Tomato prices are very low at the moment and we cannot save them.”
Farmer Aziz Ulu (33), who produces dried tomatoes in Kayışlar Neighborhood of Saruhanlı district, said, “Our price expectation is that this year we want it to be 100 and above. Hopefully, the price will be above our expectations and the farmer will be happy.”
