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Invest HatayInvest Hatayby Burç Consulting

Food & Packaging Manufacturing Facility

Hatay's strong agricultural output, from olives to citrus and vegetables, gives food and packaging manufacturers a direct, local raw-material base rarely available in this combination elsewhere in Türkiye.

Food packaging production line

A food and packaging plant located close to Hatay's agricultural producing districts can shorten the raw-material supply chain meaningfully compared to sourcing from other regions. This proximity matters most for perishable inputs, where transport time directly affects processing yield and product quality.

What Project Types Are Worth Considering?

  • Olive and olive-oil processing and packaging line
  • Fruit and vegetable processing plant
  • Flexible or rigid packaging manufacturing
  • Private-label food production for retail brands

Which Areas Should You Consider?

Kırıkhan and Altınözü offer direct proximity to olive and general agricultural production. Hassa OIZ and İskenderun OIZ provide ready industrial infrastructure with logistics access for finished-product distribution.

Licensing and Permit Process

  • Food production permit from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
  • Food registry certificate
  • Industrial registry certificate for the production facility
  • Certifications required for export (geographical indication, halal, organic, as applicable)

Incentives and Support

Region 6 incentives apply to food manufacturing investments; export-oriented projects can also draw on the Ministry of Trade's export support programs.

See our Investment Incentive Consulting service

What to Keep in Mind

Supply agreements with local producer associations, secured before construction begins, materially de-risk raw-material availability, especially for a facility sized to run above small-batch capacity.

Sources

From the official data

Distribution of Food Businesses by District

According to the district table in the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry's 2025 Activity Report, the number of food businesses registered with district directorates totals 10,825. İskenderun (1,650) and Antakya (1,470) rank first and second.

IndicatorValueYearSource
İskenderun1,6502025[1]
Antakya1,4702025[1]
Samandağ1,2332025[1]
Arsuz1,2202025[1]
Defne1,0592025[1]
Dörtyol9162025[1]
Reyhanlı6012025[1]
Kırıkhan5352025[1]
Altınözü4492025[1]
Hassa3732025[1]
Yayladağı3482025[1]
Payas3292025[1]
Belen3082025[1]
Erzin2682025[1]
Kumlu662025[1]

What does this data mean for an investor?

The top four districts (İskenderun, Antakya, Samandağ, Arsuz) hold 51% of businesses. It is notable that Samandağ and Arsuz rank ahead of the more populous Defne and Dörtyol, which suggests food production and sales are registered more densely in coastal districts than population alone would predict (interpretation). It is a starting point for reading competitive density district by district for restaurant, central-kitchen or food-brand investments.

Limitation: The count is registered food businesses subject to inspection; the type (restaurant, producer, retail) and size of business are not in the table. The “2025 realisation” and “2026 target” columns of the same table may relate to the inspection programme and were not used. A further 688 businesses are registered with the provincial Food and Feed Branch and are not allocated to districts.

Pages related to this data

Sources

  1. [1] Hatay Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, 2025 Activity Report (data period: 2024–2025)

Port Cargo and Exports: Official Volumes

According to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Turkish ports handled 553,268,303 tonnes in 2025; the İskenderun Regional Port Authority handled 70,905,737 tonnes, third after Aliağa (89,507,150 tonnes) and Kocaeli (83,939,975 tonnes). In the Ministry of Trade's exports-by-province-of-activity table, Hatay ranked 11th in 2023 with USD 5,170 million.

IndicatorValueYearSource
İskenderun Regional Port Authority: cargo handled (tonnes)70,905,7372025[1]
Türkiye total port cargo (tonnes)553,268,3032025[1]
İskenderun's share of the national total12.8%2025[1]
Hatay exports by province of activity (USD million)5,8562022[2]
Hatay exports (USD million; annual change −11.7%)5,1702023[2]
Share of Türkiye's exports (Türkiye: USD 255,809 million)2.0%2023[2]
Hatay exports, single month (USD million; +11.9%)505 → 565Sep 2024 → Sep 2025[3]

What does this data mean for an investor?

The İskenderun Regional Port Authority handles 12.8% of the cargo moved through Turkish ports and trails only Aliağa and Kocaeli. This volume shows that Hatay remained one of the country's main cargo gateways even after the earthquake. Hatay's exports fell 11.7% in 2023 to USD 5,170 million; in September 2025 monthly exports rose +11.9% on the same month of the previous year. A single month does not prove an annual recovery; the annual 2024–2025 figures are not in this compilation.

What it means for an investor: port and export volumes are the most concrete official gauges of the scale of demand for warehousing, bonded areas, logistics centres and export-oriented production. But how much of the port tonnage is cargo produced in or destined for Hatay, as opposed to transit, cannot be separated from these data; cargo type and country breakdowns should be queried separately before investing.

Limitation: The port figure is the sum of all ports under the İskenderun Regional Port Authority and has no cargo-type or country breakdown. The export table is based on place of production (province of activity), which differs from head-office-based tables. Annual provincial exports for 2024 and 2025 (the Ministry's relevant file could not be accessed) and the sector breakdown of exports are not in this compilation; September 2025 is a single-month figure.

Pages related to this data

Sources

  1. [1] Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, port cargo-handling record announcement (2025; 31 January 2026) (data period: 2025)
  2. [2] Ministry of Trade, Exports by Province of Activity (annual table, 2022–2023) (data period: 2022–2023)
  3. [3] Ministry of Trade, Exports by Province of Activity, September 2025 (data period: September 2025)

Figures come from official sources; interpretations are Invest Hatay's own and are not investment advice.

Frequently asked questions about food & packaging manufacturing

As close as feasible for perishable inputs; we help you weigh this against industrial infrastructure and logistics access when choosing a location.

Related Investment Opportunities

Industry & Manufacturing InvestmentsHassa OIZ Factory InvestmentOlive Oil Factory Investment

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