Production and Trade of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in the World and Turkey

In this study, it was aimed to give information about production, foreign trade and changes of medicinal and aromatic plants in Turkey from 2000 to the present. Research data was obtained from FAO and ITC records by screening, filtering and grouping and was subjected to descriptive statistics. According to the findings, a total of 36 million hectares of medicinal and aromatic plants are cultivated and coffee, cocoa, tea and red pepper were at the top of the list. Cocoa, tea and mint production areas increased about 50% by 2016. On the other hand, decreases have been observed in the production areas of carob, buckwheat, hemp and hops. Dozens of medicinal and aromatic plants were sujected to the Foreign trade. While the size of world medicinal and aromatic plants trade was 50 billion dollars in 2000, it increased to 180 billion dollars in 2016. Coffee, cocoa and tea are at the top of the trade. While Brazil is the most important coffee exporter, the USA is the most important importer. In the export of essential oils, China is in the first place, while the USA is the first in importation. Trade volume increased by 300% mostly in coffee, tea and mate groups. Turkey is ranked in the middle in world trade. In the study, all medicinal and aromatic plants were examined for secondary benefits. According to findings, about 20 million medicinal and aromatic plants are cultivated in about 1.3 million decares of land. From 2000 to 2015, production areas increased by about 40%. Foreign trade of medicinal and aromatic plants were realized in 2015 with export of 280 million dollars and import of 254 million dollars. Thyme is in the first place with 25% share in exports. Coffee constitutes 61% of the import. The most important essential oils in export were rose, thyme, stearopten and orange. Import essential essential oils were mint, orange, lemon, other citrus fruits, lavender. As a result, the production of medicinal and aromatic plants in the world is increasing but the trade is increasing even faster.