For a mini courgette supplier the clock starts at the moment of picking, because the product is sold with its flower and the flower looks fresh only for a short time. Hatipoğlu Tarım is an Antalya-based exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables, established in 2002, and it prepares mini courgettes for export throughout the year. This guide is written for importers, wholesalers and buyers who serve select markets. It explains the product, the harvest standard, the same-day routine, transport conditions, packaging, documents and the details we need to quote.
What a mini courgette is: baby zucchini with flower
The mini courgette, which some buyers know as mini zucchini, is a delicate product chosen in select markets for three features: its small size, its firm texture and the flower that is kept on the fruit. Baby zucchini with flower is a different trade from the standard product. The standard courgette, covered in our guide for buyers who need a courgette supplier from Turkey, is judged on the fruit alone. Here the flower is part of what you buy, and it is graded too.
Harvest standard: about 10–12 cm, flower attached
Mini courgettes are harvested when they reach about 10–12 cm, while the flower is still on the fruit. Size and flower are judged together at picking.
The same-day routine: greenhouse, cold room, dispatch
The fresh look of the flower lasts only briefly. For that reason the product is planned so that, on the same day, it goes from the greenhouse to the cold room and then on to dispatch. This has a practical consequence for you as a buyer: fix the delivery week and the weekly volume early, and keep the route to your warehouse as short as you can. The cases are packed with that short delivery time in mind.
Season and availability
The Turkish mini courgette is grown under cover, so it can be ordered in all twelve months; see our article on protected cultivation. In winter quantities are more limited. Buyers who give their weekly requirement in advance have their programme planned around it. Other products are shown in the season calendar.
Quality criteria
Mini courgettes are selected for export on:
- Size: about 10–12 cm, with the pieces in one case close to one another.
- Skin integrity: no cuts, scratches or pitting.
- Flower condition: attached, whole and fresh-looking.
- Freshness: firm fruit with a glossy skin.
Transport temperature and ethylene
Mini courgettes follow the figures for courgette. The optimum is 5–10 °C at 95% relative humidity. Ideally courgette is not stored for longer than 10 days; at 5 °C acceptable quality can be kept for up to two weeks, but with this product the flower, not the fruit, sets the practical limit. Below 5 °C, chilling injury in the form of pitting and skin discolouration appears after 3–4 days.
Sensitivity to ethylene is low to moderate; in green types it speeds up yellowing. On mixed loads, remember that courgette wants it a little cooler than cucumbers and aubergines, which travel at 10–12.5 °C. Tomatoes produce ethylene and are kept away from cucumbers and aubergines, and none of these vegetables shares a truck with fruit carried at 0 °C. If your order combines mini courgettes with mini cucumbers, tell us at the enquiry stage so that loading can be planned accordingly. More in our article on the cold chain.
Packaging and the HS code
Mini courgettes are packed in cases of 30 × 40 × 12.5 cm, in carton or in plastic. Cases are stacked on 80 × 120 cm euro pallets; formats are compared in packaging and case sizes in export.
Mini courgettes are classified with fresh courgettes under HS code 0709.93. Ask your customs broker to confirm the classification before shipment.
Documents when you import mini courgettes from Turkey
The company holds ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and ISO 10002 certification as well as GLOBALG.A.P. IFA and GRASP. Every lot that goes to Europe is analysed for residues. How the limits apply is explained in our article on EU pesticide MRLs.
Import process and how to get a quote
The product moves in six steps: harvest, cooling, grading, packing, cold storage and dispatch, all carried out in house; the fruit goes into the cold room on the day it is picked. Shipments are planned by the truck, which in the standard 13.60 m refrigerated version takes 33 euro pallets.
To quote we need six details: type, size, packaging (carton or plastic case), weekly volume, delivery week and destination country. Reach us by phone (+90 242 339 55 25), on WhatsApp (+90 534 260 07 25) or by e-mail (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 weekly volume, delivery week and destination for your mini courgette programme, and we will prepare a loading plan and a quotation.
