Türkiye cocoa exports hit all-time high of $1.7 billion in 2025

ISTANBUL

Türkiye has set a new record in cocoa exports, despite the crop not being cultivated domestically due to climate conditions.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), exports doubled between 2021 and 2025, reaching $1.66 billion last year, the highest figure ever recorded. Over the five-year period, cocoa exports rose by 114.7 percent, surpassing $5.5 billion in total.

Globally, cocoa is grown primarily in South America and Africa. In Türkiye, small-scale experimental cultivation has recently begun in the Mediterranean region, though the country’s role in the sector is largely through processing. Cocoa, indispensable to the food industry—especially chocolate—is traded both in raw form and as processed products. The transformation of cocoa into finished goods for international markets has significantly boosted export revenues.

Annual figures show steady growth: $775 million in 2021, $942 million in 2022, $1.02 billion in 2023, and $1.12 billion in 2024, culminating in last year’s record-breaking $1.66 billion.

The United States was the largest buyer in 2025, importing $244 million worth of cocoa products from Turkey. Other major destinations included Iraq ($175 million), Iran ($102.8 million), Saudi Arabia ($74.2 million), and Russia ($69.5 million).

On the import side, Türkiye brought in $2.2 billion worth of cocoa last year. Côte d’Ivoire was the leading supplier with $567 million, followed by Ghana ($331.1 million), the Netherlands ($297.8 million), Germany ($143.6 million), and Belgium ($122.6 million).

The figures highlight Turkey’s growing role in the global cocoa trade, not as a producer but as a processor and exporter of value-added products.