THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Ahmet Tiryakioğlu, Chairman of Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) Cereals, Pulses, Oil Seeds and Products Sector Board stated that they can overcome the contraction in exports to Russia with food trade.
“With the effect of increasing sanctions against Russia, Türkiye’s exports to this country decreased by 18.7 percent to 5.1 billion dollars in the first 8 months of the year, while one of the sectors whose foreign trade was most affected was cereals, pulses, oil seeds and products. In the January-August period of 2023, cereals exports to Russia amounted to 240.6 million dollars, while in the same period this year, cereals exports decreased by 33.6 percent to 159.7 million dollars,” he said.
Pointing out that seeking new opportunities in trade with Russia, Turkish Food Exporters (TGİ – TFE) organised bulgur promotion events simultaneously with WorldFood Moscow, one of the region’s important food fairs, he explained, “In order to strengthen the brand perception and awareness of Turkish bulgur all over the world, communication activities were carried out for the Russian media within the scope of the promotion project carried out under the coordination of Mediterranean Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds and Products Exporters’ Association (AHBIB) with the support of the Ministry of Trade and in cooperation with Black Sea exporters’ Associations (KIB) and Southeastern Anatolia Exporters’ Associations (GAIB). In the event, bulgur dishes prepared by Chef Arda Türkmen were presented at the tasting event hosted by Russia’s leading public institutions, NGOs and sector representatives.”
“Russia needs to cooperate with its neighbours”
Drawing attention to the strategic importance of the food sector in trade with Russia, which is facing the biggest sanctions in history in international trade, he added, “The impact of the expanding sanctions decisions of Western countries on our exports to Russia reached 1.2 billion dollars in 8 months. Although these sanctions seem to target war-related sectors such as defence industry, logistics and aviation, there were losses in our food trade. In order to feed its 150 million population, Russia needs to cooperate with its neighbours. Russian households spend a third of their income on access to food.”
“Since agricultural land accounts for as little as 13 percent of the country’s land area, Russia is one of the target markets of supplier countries, importing around 30 billion dollars worth of food every year. We can overcome the contraction in Türkiye’s total exports to Russia under the leadership of the food sector,” he concluded…
