Crop drops 30% as frost hits Turkey’s ‘city of roses’

Turkey is reporting a decline in rose output this year following a severe frost in the western city of Isparta.

Rose yields fell by 30 percent, reducing the harvest to 8,000 tonnes in 2025 from 11,000 tonnes last year, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The rose harvest season mostly ends in May and June, the report said.

Isparta, referred to as “the city of roses”, is a major hub for cultivating Rosa Damascena, a variety widely used in the perfume industry.

The frost had a major impact on early plantings, but crops fared better later, İbrahim Işıdan, general manager of Gülbirlik, a cooperative for rose cultivators.

Işıdan said that demand from overseas markets declined this year due to economic uncertainty.

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In January, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported that Ankara’s export of flowers and ornamental plants was worth $141 million in 2024, with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom being the largest buyers.

“We sell outdoor products to Turkic nations and Gulf countries as our market grows there day by day,” the newspaper quoted Ismail Yılmaz, chairman of the Turkish Ornamental Plants and Products Exporters Association, as saying.