THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Izmir Commodity Exchange June Ordinary Assembly Meeting was held on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, via video conference and with the wide participation of Assembly members.
The main agenda of the meeting was the amount of agricultural production, the effect of the drought problem on agricultural products and the developments regarding wheat production in the country.
Speaking at the Ordinary Assembly Meeting in June, İzmir Commodity Exchange Board of Directors Vice Chairman Ercan Korkmaz said that wheat is one of the most strategic crops for our country as well as the rest of the world.
Korkmaz said, “In the last five years, an average of 20 million tons of wheat has been produced in our country. This production amount meets almost the same level of domestic consumption. However, due to our exports of wheat products such as flour, pasta, bulgur, semolina and biscuits, which reached 3 billion dollars, we had to import 7 million tons of wheat on average in the last five years. On the other hand, there was a serious increase in our average import price due to the increasing world prices with the effect of the pandemic. Prices, which averaged $242 per ton in 2020, rose to $284 in the first 4 months of 2021. Our industrialists were seriously affected by the increase in the exchange rates, as well as the price of wheat itself.”
Pointing out that the fluctuations in the markets are also accompanied by the problem of wheat production due to the climatic conditions at this point, Ercan Korkmaz explained, “As a result of this development in foreign markets and production, wheat prices, announced by TMO (Turkish Grain Board) as around 2.3 liras, have already increased to 2.6-2.7 in the market. The hike in wheat prices causes the costs of our flour and bakery products and feed industrialists to surge.”
“At this point, it was announced to the public that an effective intervention would be made in this regard, assuming that the actions to be taken by our Turkish Grain Board, which is a regulatory institution in the market, are very important. I hope that with the measures to be taken, the markets will become more predictable for every stakeholder,” Korkmaz added…
