Ferhat Şen, Head of TARİŞ Raisins Agricultural Sales Cooperatives Union, stated that the Union will focus on investments to increase capacity in the new period and that they will start the 5 lira per kilogram difference payment they promised for the producer in June.
Şen, who made statements to journalists together with the members of the board of directors at a facility in Manisa’s Alaşehir district, stated that the Union, which includes 9 thousand producers and 13 cooperatives under its roof, has raisin enterprise, vinegar, alcohol, molasses and cologne factories.
Stating that the management of the Union changed 2 months ago, Şen said that they are not at the desired financial level, that the institution has shrunk while the competitors are growing, that they will pay the debts with additional investments and strengthen the corporate structure.
Şen noted that they observed that the brand value and image of the Union was high at the Foodex Fair held in Japan.
“We will double the production capacity of our grape plant. Our work has started, we will bring it to August. The annual capacity of 40 thousand tonnes will ramp up to 80 thousand tonnes. We are planning to invest an additional 10 million litres in our vinegar business, where we hold approximately 50 percent of the market share. We will spend 200 million liras for these 2 investments,” Şen said.
Pointing out that they are also working on the evaluation of the Association’s real estates in Manisa and Izmir provinces Şen stated that they are planning to establish a roof-type solar power plant to reduce storage costs.