Türkiye’s flour companies are ready to handle the Russian grain to be sent to African nations if the plan goes through, say representatives from the industry.
Kazım Taycı, the president of the Istanbul Cereals Pulses Oil Seeds and Products Exporters’ Association (İHBİR) said that Turkish companies have enough capacity to process the Russian wheat into flour to be sent to Africa.
“We are closely following the developments, nobody can do this better than us,” Taycı said. “We are ready to do our bit.”
The Agriculture Ministry and the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) will probably manage this process, Taycı added.
Türkiye has the largest flour production and milling capacity in the world….
The local industry has been taking part in U.N. initiatives to send products to Africa for years, said Oğuz Tuncay from Karahan Değirmencilik, one of Türkiye’s leading flour companies.
He agreed that the TMO will likely be in charge of holding tenders to process the Russian wheat.
“The technology and the [flour] capacity in Türkiye is more than enough to handle this job,” noted Tuncay, adding that local industry ships flour to 140 countries.
Last year, Türkiye exported 3.4 million tonnes of flour worth 1.5 billion dollars, according to Haluk Tezcan, the president of the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TUSAF).
The industry aims to ramp up its exports to 4 million tonnes and generate 2.1 billion dollars in export revenues this year, Tezcan said…