Arab countries have a sweet tooth for Turkish chocolate

Out of a total $182.6 million in Turkish chocolate exports last year, $109 million was bought by Arab countries.

The statistics from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) show that Arab countries were by far the largest buyers of Turkish chocolate last year.

The $182.6 million dollars worth of chocolate weighed a total of 71,300 tons.

At the top of the list was Iraq, with $35.3 million worth of chocolate imports, followed by Saudi Arabia with $17.1 million and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $14.7 million.

Further down the list came Yemen with $6.5 million, Algeria with $5.6 million, Libya with $4.8 million and Qatar with $3.2 million.

Turkish chocolate sales across the Atlantic were smaller , with $4.3 million worth of chocolate exports going to the U.S. and $3.3 million going to Canada, at a price of $2.6 dollars per kilogram.

Over the same period, Turkey imported 2,300 tons of chocolate worth a total of $21.3 million.

The largest quantity of imported chocolate came from Germany, with $11.6 million.

This year has seen a number of developments in the Turkish chocolate industry, including the first edition of Chocolate Show Turkey in Istanbul.

The Turkish-owned Godiva chocolate brand entered the Turkish market this year after a $100-million investment in production facilities in Topkapı and Silivri, located on the European side of Istanbul.

Turkish brand Ülker announced its goal of growing 23 percent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market after a merger with British brand McVitie's, which had previously been rivals in the MENA market, feeling confident in the region under their united company Pladis.