On Wednesday 12th January 2011, a group of manufacturers, exporters, representatives of civil society organisations and government officials all met in the Freeport of Mersin to celebrate the first shipment of grapefruit to Japan by Ozler Tarim.

Since the 1970’s the Japanese government had banned the import of citrus fruit from areas susceptible to Mediterranean fruit fly, but last year, on August 18th 2010, the ban was lifted on grapefruit.

This was due in no small part to the effort that has been made by Ozler to develop trade relations between Japan and Turkey, in the form of trade missions, information seminars and research into legislation, and by bringing together Japanese importers and Turkish exporters.

Present at the ceremony to celebrate the first shipments of grapefruit to Japan on Wednesday 12th January 2011 in the port of Mersin were Governor of Mersin Mr Hasan Basri Guzeloglu, Chairman of the Mediterranean Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Exporters Union, Mr Ali Kavak, UFT Vice President Salih Flower Exports, Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Board Administrator, Mr Kemal Kacmaz, and a large number of exporters and public representatives, including Japanese  Agricultural Quarantine Specialist, Takeyuki Arai.

Speaking at the ceremony, Governor of Mersin Mr Hasan Basri Guzeloglu, stressed the big step forward represented by these first exports and hailed it as a starting point for the development of trade between the Japanese market and Turkey. He thanked the effort made by Ozler, the brokerage firm and all employees involved in opening up this new market.  

The export of grapefruit to Japan has come about as the result of a long study and negotiation which Governor Basri was keen to underline the superior effort made by Ozler and “with a joint effort from everyone, we are happy to reach this success. Fresh fruit and vegetables imported into Japan represent around 60-70$ billion and now that the process has started, we expect the benefits will spread to other Turkish producers, exporters and growers. We will continue to treat the development of this market as a priority. We expect that our products and other products made in Turkey will come to take their rightful place in the world market” he said.

While diversification of Turkeys major export destinations has tended to focus on non-agricultural sectors, Mr Guzeloglu was keen to point out that “strategic and funadamental sectors such as agriculture and food maintain their importance”.

Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade Export Flower Salim, Zafer Caglayan, State Minister,  said that the intensive effort being made to export to Japan had been noted by the Undersecretariat. Efforts are also continuing to improve existing markets.

This shipment shows the importance of fresh exports from Turkey “There is massive potential for Turkey in Japan’s overall imports, and food imports in particular”. Minister Zafer Caglayan together with a team of exporters jointly organised a series of programmes to increase existing markets & to open new markets. This new initiative shows the aims of these programmes begin to be achieved.

Mediterranean Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Exporters Union Chairman Ali Kavak emphasized that Japans annual total imports of fresh fruit and vegetables is close in number to Turkeys annual total export of fresh fruit and vegetables. “Last year Turkey’s exports represented close to 2.2 billion dollars worth of product. Japan imported around 2.5 billion dollars. I believe that the opening up of grapefruit exports will help increase Turkish share of the Japanese market” he said.

Mr.Kavak stated that by exporting grapefruit to Japan, the leading economy in the world, we have opened the doors for the export of many other fresh fruits and vegetables. “By establishing a good marketplace for grapefruit, our new target is to export many other different kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables to Japan, in accordance with Japanese regulations. Not only grapefruit, but also lemons, cherries and other types of fresh fruit and vegetables that Turkey is able to offer.

After his speech, the day was commemorated by the presentation of gifts to the people who had contributed to the successful resumption of grapefruit exports to Japan. These were Japanese Agricultural Quarantine Specialist Takeuki Arai, Marketing Coordinator and Representetive of Ozler Tarim Mr. Ozbek Ozler, Bornova Agricultural Research Institute Dr. Turkan Koclu, Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Sector Board Administrator Mr. Kemal Kaçmaz, DTM Export Governer Mr. Salih Cicek, and Governor of Mersin, Mr. Hasan Basri Guzeloglu.

After the ceremony, the delegation, together with Governer Mr. Guzeloglu, visited the cold rooms where the goods were stored and witnessed the first containers being loaded.

Ozler Tarim is proud to be the first Company in 40 years to export grapefruit to Japan. We thank all our staff and supporters who helped to bring this about. 

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Modi apples has been developed in 1982 in Italy by Consorzio Italiano. The first license in Turkey was taken by our company and Ozler Tarim is the licensee for Modi.  It is a cross variety of Gala and Liberty. It is named as CIVG 198 and the trade name is Modi. As seasonality, it is 1 week earlier than Golden Delicious Apple.

The protectivity and high resistance to disease is good. It took place in European market in 2008 and was successful. It is considered to be an alternative variety for Red Delicious. It gives the farmers the possibility to treat less pesticides. So there is less risk of residues. In terms of food safety and environmental health, it is the best suiting variety.

CIV: Is the owner of Modi. CIV improved the Modi and it is the patent owner.  Ozler Tarim is the first licience owner in Turkey.  The growing Areas in Europe; Adige Plain (Italy), South Germany, Spain, South and South West France.  In these regions, the fruits are about 75-80mm and have a very shinny red color.

Modi is a kind with high yield. The trees are medium powerful, at full production, the fruit indicates early features. Blooming is regular and abundant. Gold Rush is the best pollinators. It came up by the mutation of Golden Delicious variety.  It is a kind with thick-leaf and resistant to Scaba. The fruit is elongated, conical in shape and large size. Skin color is deep purple red, between 80% and 100% color over the total skin.  It has a good adaptibility to high temperature regions. The flesh color is cream yellow, very firm, crisp and juicy, with high sugar content and acidity level.

It is a kind that is suitable for storage and the shelflife for several weeks resulted succesfully. No disease was observed after the storage. With firm flesh and high acid sugar level, it is a variety that will take place long-term in the markets.

Modi with slow decline in the level of starch and the protection of the flesh firmness gives the possibility to offer a wide harvest network.

The points of strenght for Modi are; exceptional flavour, crispness, easily recognizable, appeal, large and uniform size, storability and shelf life, high and even productivity, low harvesting costs, excellent colour even in low color areas, scab residance. The weak points are; weak tree tends to overfruit, some chemical treatments could cause russeting, slight fruit drop at picking time and thick skin.

Ozler Tarim aims to expand the plantation of this new variety by the results of the studies of adaptation at Ulukışla and Adana conditions. By the results of the studies, range of types will be increased. Ozler Tarim that has been cooperating with growers for several years, is also giving the opportunity to its producers to try this variety.