Şanlıurfa's digital trade potential
Şanlıurfa is the heart of GAP (the South-eastern Anatolia Project) and one of Türkiye's largest agricultural production centres. With irrigation it leads the country in cotton production; a very large share of Turkish cotton comes from Urfa.
Cotton, known as 'white gold', feeds textiles through its fibre, the oil industry through its seed and livestock farming through its by-products. That has created a fast-developing textile chain in Urfa, running from ginning through to yarn and ready-to-wear.
Grain, pulses and food production are strong as well; as irrigation developed, agricultural output and the food industry built on it grew markedly. Urfa cuisine and its regional specialities add considerable gastronomic and brand value to the city.
Despite this agricultural and productive strength, a significant share of companies has a weak brand, no multilingual site and no digital sales channel; the product is mostly sold through intermediaries and brokers. A digital channel that reaches consumers and importers directly raises the producer's margin and control over the market.
The GAP region's share of exports has risen markedly over the years, and that growth can accelerate further with a well-built digital presence. When the origin story and quality of the Urfa product are told through multilingual content and imagery, they become a powerful export asset.
Alongside cotton, Şanlıurfa is also strong in GAP products such as pistachios, lentils and isot (Urfa pepper); that diversity offers a broad raw material base for processed and branded food. The textile chain, running from ginning mills to ready-to-wear workshops, grows every year. Branded food and B2B textiles are the two separate lines with the highest digital growth potential in Urfa.