After tomatoes, peppers carry the widest range of varieties in Antalya’s vegetable export. Bell, long green, kapia and hot peppers all come from the same plant family, but each is grown for a different market, packed differently, and harvested on its own logic.
Bell peppers: colour decides the market
Bell peppers are grown in green, red and yellow. Green fruit is picked early and has a sharper flavour; red and yellow stay on the plant longer, gain sugar, and cost more than green. Northern Europe often buys all three colours together in a mixed pack known as “traffic light”, chosen for shelf appeal.
Long green peppers: straightness matters most
The trait buyers watch most closely in long green peppers is straightness — bent or twisted fruit drops to second grade. Length is usually wanted in the 14-18 cm range. Most of this crop goes to Germany and the Netherlands, laid in the case facing one direction.
Kapia peppers: fresh and dried both
Kapia peppers are exported both fresh and dried. The fresh fruit is thick-fleshed and sweet, sought after for stuffing and roasting. As flesh thickness increases, so does weight and price — which is why kapia is graded by weight rather than diameter.
Hot peppers: variety and heat level stated together
Hot peppers are never sold simply as “hot pepper” — the variety is named: cin biber, red chilli, green chilli. Buyers usually specify a heat level on the Scoville scale; even the same variety can vary in heat depending on soil and climate, so each batch is tested.
Harvest timing depends on the variety
Long green and hot peppers are picked by hand two to three times a week, since the plant keeps fruiting continuously. Bell peppers are picked less often — about once a week — timed to colour stage. That difference shapes labour planning directly.
Packaging and cold chain
Bell and kapia peppers are packed in 5 kg cartons; long green and hot peppers go in smaller, more ventilated 3-4 kg cases. Peppers are moderately sensitive to chilling — they travel at 7-10 °C, and colder than that the skin starts to pit.
Pepper export at Hatipoğlu Tarım
Our Serik and Kepez facilities prepare bell, long green, kapia and hot peppers to the colour, length and heat level the buyer needs. Browse our pepper varieties, or get in touch about your market’s standard.
