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8.1.4 Agriculture sector news
Turkey was the world’s largest wheat importer in 2020 at 9.66mn tonnes, according to a senior official from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
“This amount corresponded to 48% of local production and Turkey paid $2.4bn for wheat imports last year,” said Orhan Saribal.
Turkey’s wheat imports have amounted to 72mn tonnes worth some $19bn since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, Saribal added, also noting that Turkey’s annual wheat imports have averaged 10mn tonnes over the past 19 years.
China was second to Turkey for wheat imports last year at 8.58mn tonnes, with Italy third at 6.74mn tonnes.
Turkey bought 6.5mn tonnes of wheat from Russia in 2020, making it the country’s largest supplier. Imports from Ukraine and Canada amounted to 1mn tonnes and 550,000 tonnes, respectively, Saribal said.
He criticised the government for unfair treatment of local producers.
“Wheat growers will be paid Turkish lira (TRY) 1,650/tonnes (around €196) this year whereas the country pays between 2,200 to 2,400 lira per tonne for the wheat it imports,” Saribal said, adding that the custom duty on wheat, which was 130%, was abolished in 2017.
8.1.5 TMT sector news
The share of fibre optic internet in broadband connections is 22% in Turkey, whereas the OECD average is 28%.
The broadband penetration rate according to the population is 19% in Turkey compared to the OECD average of 31%.
The number of broadband internet subscribers reportedly stood at 15.8mn with 3.8mn fibre internet users in Turkey, a country of 83mn people.
The length of fibre optic cables in the country was given as around 413,000 kilometres across a 783,562 square kilometre surface area, whereas South Korea, a country with a surface area of 100,000 square kilometres, has 574,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables.
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, the three largest cities and provinces of Turkey, have the highest number of fibre optic cable lengths while Urfa and Hatay have the shortest lengths.
8.1.6 Tourism sector news
Foreign tourist arrivals collapsed by 72% y/y in 2020 to 12.7mn.
40 TURKEY Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com