By Si̇nan Balcikoca

BURSA, Turkey

Turkey exports bottled spring water to 110 countries around the world, a senior member of the Packaged Water Manufacturers Association (SUDER) has said.

SUDER's board member Huseyin Karamehmetoglu told Anadolu Agency that the annual volume of water market in Turkey exceeded 11 billion liters, with the financial turnover in the sector hitting 5 billion Turkish liras ($1.31 billion).

Karamehmetoglu, who is also the general manager of Pinar Su --one of the leading bottled natural spring water companies in Turkey-- said Turkey was a rich country in terms of its natural sources, and Turkish water was preferred especially in European and Gulf countries.

"Now we are trying to enter the Chinese and Indian markets. These countries are very big in terms of population. At the same time, they have trouble finding access to clean drinking water," he added.

Populated by 1.412 billion people, China is the most populous country in the world, according to the latest UN estimates. India comes second with 1.347 billion people.