THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
Related Articles
Press release…
At the General Assembly of the Aegean Fisheries and Animal Products Exporters’ Association, held at the Aegean Exporters’ Associations (EIB), Ufuk Atakan Demir, representative of More Seafood Trading Inc., was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors with 34 votes in an election contested by a single list.
Bedri Girit, who had served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2018, handed over the position to Ufuk Atakan Demir and also took his place on the new Board of Directors elected for the 2026–2030 term.
Bedri Girit, who handed over the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Aegean Fisheries and Animal Products Exporters’ Association to Ufuk Atakan Demir, stated in his address to the General Assembly: “Our Association has performed exceptionally well. As EIB, we achieved exports worth 18.5 billion dollars. We are the second-best performing association in terms of exports after the iron and steel sector: approximately 48 per cent of our exports across all categories nationwide are accounted for by our association. We have products in the poultry sector subject to export bans. There are also restrictions on milk powder and butter. Bans will not take our country anywhere. Our sector has not lost hope, but if it were to lose hope, it would shrink by 25 per cent. Export restrictions are the wrong decision for the sector, but our government is also taking measures regarding food inflation. With the support of our Ministry, we are continuing our ‘Turkish Tastes Turquality’ project with all our food associations in the US and Japan. We are the world leader in pine honey and the second-largest producer of honey globally after China. We have achieved excellent momentum in salmon, exceeding 540 million dollars. Things will improve once the bans on our poultry sector are lifted. Our two sectors—2.4 billion dollars in seafood exports and 1.2 billion dollars in poultry exports—are driving the entire sector. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the companies contributing to our exports.”
Pointing out with this performance in the aquaculture sector—our association’s strongest sub-sector—they accounted for 55% of the sector’s exports across Türkiye and 80% of exports from the Aegean Region, Ufuk Atakan Demir said, “This success has been supported by our poultry, egg, dairy and dairy products and honey sectors, where we continue to hold a significant position in global production. We are moving forward with determination towards the export targets we have set for 2026: 4.3 billion dollars for Turkey as a whole and 2 billion dollars specifically for our Association.”
““By the end of our term, our target for 2030 is to reach 3 billion dollars in exports. As the candidate for the chairperson in the upcoming term, we view the implementation of projects aimed at increasing our members’ export capacity and strengthening their access to new markets as our primary objective,” Demir added…
