THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Özkan Kamiloğlu, Chairman of the Board of Uludağ Fruit and Vegetable Products Exporters’ Association (UMSMİB), said that the export of fruit and vegetable products increased by more than 100 percent in the first half of June.
Stating that the performance of exports in this 15-day period, realized by UMSMİB with 134 percent, while overall exports from Turkey which showed an increase of 165 percent is highly pleasing, Kamiloğlu said, “This increases need to have correct analysis. There are 2 reasons for us. First, our competitors feeding Europe could not provide sufficient production because Italy and Spain were affected by the epidemic. Another reason was that, in spite of the possibility of the virus crisis prolonging, everyone wanted to keep a sufficient amount of goods in their stocks and to withdraw the stocks in us.”
New markets but must be permanent…
Pointing out that new markets were born during the pandemic period, but they should be permanent, Kamiloğlu noted, “The countries that have not demanded anything from us until today or have posed obstacles before us have started to demand products. But the main thing is that it should be permanent. In order to be permanent, we must be producing the raw material correctly. We have to support our farmer to produce the raw material.”
Reminding that he considered positive the supports given by the goverment during the pandemic period, Kamiloğlu added, “The state took very quick and correct steps in this process. It was good that the payments made especially from KGF (Credit Guarantee Fund) loans were very serial. Our exporters and farmers are very pleased with this.”
“However, I think the 1-year repayment period for these loans is short. Since we have to make the product and keep it in stock, when we start repaying these credits, our stocks will not be finished yet. That’s why we want it to be 2 years to sell and pay,” Kamiloğlu concluded…
