Development of Oil Rose (Rosa damascena) Production and Trade in Turkey

Majority of volatile oil production in turkey consists of rose oil. turkey is the biggest roseoil producer in the world. current demand for rose oil in the world is supplied by countries suchturkey (50 %), bulgaria (40 %), and the remaining 10% is supplied by iran, india, morocco and afghanistan. majority of production in turkey being located in isparta; burdur, afyon and denizlialso produce rose oil from “rosa damascena” that is known as “turkish oil rose” in world market. the aims of this study were to exhibit the progress of the growth, production and trade in oil rose, to discuss the problems of the sector, to put forth the solutions and to determine the strong side, weakness, threats and opportunities by making swot analyses. although, there were some fluctuations between 1980 and 2009, oil rose production has seen double increment with the increase of production from 4870 tones to 10000 tones. almost 100% of oil production in turkey is exported to other countries; according to 2010 statistics, approximately 10.4 million dollars worth of rose oilhas been exported. the majority of rose oil has been sent to eu countries. according to 2009 statistics, the share of turkey’s rose oil exports to france, germany, usa and switzerland are 62%,13%, 10%, and 9%, respectively. isparta province holding 84, 41% of oil rose production in turkey, has potential to create a cosmetics valley to develop cosmetics and perfume industry in turkey. sucha valley could only be created by joint efforts between government, private industries and research centers but in turn would provide an international presence in the world cosmetics market.