ABSTRACT
Pomegranate is one of the world’s oldest known ancient fruits and it is also a mysterious fruit with mythical associations. But, the fruit and juice have gained commercial significance since 2000s with the verification of its health effects by the scientific works in all over the world. The fruit, flowers, bark and leaves contain bioactive photochemical which are antimicrobial, reduce blood pressure and act against serious diseases such as diabetes and cancer (Gil et al., 2000; Lansky et al., 2005; Jurenka, 2008; Turk et al., 2008; Haidari et al., 2009). Nowadays there is an increasing worldwide demand for this fruit owing to its superior pharmacological and therapeutic properties. The most popular variety in all over the world is Wonderful and is followed by Mollar de Elche, Hicaznar and Bhagwa. With the increasing popularitiy of the pomegranates, production areas have been increasing in all over the world. Unfortunately, there is no worldwide information about pomegranate production or sales. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) did not include pomegranates into its database where the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stopped collecting pomegranate data in 1989. European Union was presenting data about the trade of pomegranates until 2013, but they also stopped data presentation. According to USAID Report (2008) total production was around 2.5 million tonnes in 2008. According to same data and the author’s knowledge, India (900.000 tonnes) is the world’s largest producer of pomegranates, followed by Iran (800.000 tonnes). Other countries like Turkey (376.000 tonnes in 2014 by Turkish Statistical Institute 2015), USA (110.000 tonnes), Spain, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Israel, Tunisia, Morocco, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Peru, Chile, Argentina and South Africa also produce pomegranate. In Europe, the main production area is in the eastern part of Spain, where the season is from October to January (with the help of cold storage). It is calculated that there are 13.000 ha of farmland dedicated to pomegranates in Spain, producing a total of 36 thousand tons a year (CBI 2015). Similarly, no data is available for the total real consumption of pomegranate for the Eropean Union. The most clear information is from CBI (2015) noted that 67.000 tonnes of pomegranates (imports minus exports) were added to
the apparent consumption of pomegranate in the EU in 2013. Not only the pomegranates, but the pomegranate-derived products are gaining in popularity. Soft drinks (juices and fruit drinks) and food supplements dominate new innovative products with pomegranate as a main ingredient or pomegranate flavor launched in the supermarkets in.
