Cucumbers are available from Turkey all year, so choosing a cucumber supplier from Turkey comes down to one question: who can get a fast-wilting vegetable to you firm and green every week? Hatipoğlu Tarım is an Antalya-based exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables, established in 2002, and cucumber is one of its core greenhouse lines. It is written for importers, wholesalers and the buyers of retail chains. It covers the product, the supply calendar, quality criteria, transport temperature, ethylene and mixed loads, packaging, the HS code, documents and the details we need to quote.
Turkish cucumber: a core greenhouse line
Cucumber is one of the basic greenhouse products supplied throughout the year. Buyers look for three things in a Turkish cucumber: a vivid green colour, a straight and regular shape, and a crisp texture. Alongside the standard type we also load mini cucumbers for retail packs and acur, the Turkish striped cucumber, so one programme can cover all three.
Season: greenhouse cucumbers from Turkey, all year
Production under cover in Antalya continues through the winter, so cucumber can be ordered in all twelve months; our article on protected cultivation explains how. In winter quantities are more limited. If you tell us your weekly requirement in advance, your programme is planned around it.
Quality criteria when you import cucumbers from Turkey
Cucumbers are harvested slightly immature, close to full size but before the seeds enlarge and harden. Firmness and skin gloss are the indicators of the right stage. For export the fruit is selected on:
- Length: the pieces in one case are close to one another in length; the range is stated in the order.
- Shape: straight and regular.
- Skin integrity: no cuts, bruises or pressure marks.
- Colour and freshness: vivid green, glossy and firm. Yellowing and shrivelling are the first signs of age.
Out of the greenhouse in the morning, cooled without delay
Cucumber loses water quickly, and that is the feature the whole handling routine is built around. The fruit is taken out of the greenhouse on the morning of harvest and cooled without delay. Packaging follows the same logic: depending on the shelf life you need and your sales channel, cucumbers can be packed in a single layer or stretch-wrapped.
Transport temperature, shelf life and ethylene
The optimum for cucumber is 10–12.5 °C at a relative humidity of 95%. Storage life is generally less than 14 days; after two weeks shrivelling, yellowing and decay increase. Lower temperatures such as 7.2 °C are common in trade, but they cause chilling injury after 2–3 days.
Cucumber is highly sensitive to ethylene. As little as 1–5 ppm accelerates yellowing and decay, which is why cucumbers are not loaded with bananas, melons or tomatoes. For mixed trucks this gives a simple rule. Cucumbers and aubergines travel at a similar temperature and can be loaded together. Tomatoes produce ethylene and do not share a vehicle with them. Courgettes prefer it a little cooler, at 5–10 °C. None of these products goes on a truck with fruit carried at 0 °C. The cold chain in fresh produce export article gives the background.
Packaging for retail and cucumber wholesale
Cucumbers are packed in cartons or plastic crates:
- Carton: 30 × 40 × 12.5 cm, 30 × 50 × 12.5 cm and 60 × 40 × 15 cm.
- Plastic crate: 30 × 40 × 12.5 cm and 30 × 50 × 12.5 cm.
The choice depends on your channel. Whether the order is for retail or for cucumber wholesale, state the case you need in the enquiry. Cases are stacked on 80 × 120 cm euro pallets. The guide to packaging and case sizes in export compares the formats.
Fresh cucumbers fall under HS code 0707.00. Please confirm the classification with your customs broker before shipment.
Documents and residue control
Our certification covers ISO 9001, ISO 22000, ISO 10002, GLOBALG.A.P. IFA and GRASP. Residue analysis is carried out on every cucumber lot bound for Europe. Our articles on EU pesticide MRLs and on which certificates European buyers require explain what to check.
Import process: six steps to the truck
From the morning harvest onwards, cucumbers pass through six steps in house: harvest, cooling, grading, packing, cold storage and dispatch by refrigerated truck. Shipments are planned by the truck, and 33 euro pallets fit a standard 13.60 m refrigerated truck.
How to get a quote
A cucumber quotation rests on six details: type, length, packaging, weekly volume, delivery week and destination country. Once we have them, we prepare the loading plan and the quotation. Call us on +90 242 339 55 25, message us on WhatsApp on +90 534 260 07 25 or write to info@hatipoglutarim.com.
Hatipoğlu Tarım has exported fresh fruit and vegetables from Antalya since 2002. Under the FİNİKE brand it ships 128 product lines to 42 countries, with harvest, grading, cold storage and dispatch handled in house across five facilities in Serik, Kepez, Mavikent, Yenişehir and Alaşehir.
Tell us the length, packaging and weekly volume for your cucumber programme, and we will prepare a loading plan and a quotation.
