THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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I was in Antalya last week. I was invited to the 19th TUSAF International Congress and Exhibition organised this year by the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TUSAF).
This year’s theme is Sustainable Future: Climate, Water, Agriculture.
It was a full congress. Because the participation was so high that more than 1,500 local and foreign visitors were present.
Flour industrialists, feed industrialists, suppliers, logistics companies, representatives of non-governmental organisations…
The most important actors of the sector were there. For us, such events create the opportunity to have a long chat with important names. In the meantime, we learn about the state of the market and their future forecasts.
First of all, Türkiye has been the market leader in world flour exports for the last 11 years. Approximately 600 factories have a flour production capacity of 32 million tonnes. Furthermore, our market share in flour exports is 24 percent.
So this means the following: One out of every 4 flour packages in the world is produced in Türkiye.
Undoubtedly, the main supporter of such a valuable sector is the wheat farmer.
And the flour industrialists demand especially high quality wheat.
Yet, for the last 2 years, there has been a decrease in yield, mainly due to heat and drought. This year, however, the faces are smiling for now because the rainfall is good. If this continues, the flour industrialists are expecting a wheat yield of nearly 21 million tonnes this year.
Of course, in addition to good yields, industrialists also want imported wheat. So why is there such an expectation, how does the public authority respond to this expectation and what is this year’s export target?
The answers to these questions were explained in detail at the summit in Antalya. Let’s find out together.
WE CLOSED THE SEASON AS THE WORLD EXPORT LEADER…
Haluk Tezcan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Flour Industrialists Federation (TUSAF), started his speech by explaining the production potential and Türkiye’s leadership in the world flour market.
“As has been the case for the last 10 years, we managed to close the season as the world export leader in 2024 with an export figure of over 3 million tonnes, earning close to 1.5 billion dollars,” Tezcan said.
IMPORT BAN MADE IT DIFFICULT TO REACH THE TARGETED FIGURE…
TUSAF Chairman Tezcan explained that wheat imports, which were put into effect with TMO (Turkish Grain Board) intervention purchase prices in June 2024, banned until 15 October 2024 within the scope of foreign trade measures and continued in a limited manner until the end of the year, made it difficult for them to reach the 4 million tonne threshold predicted for the previous year.
Tezcan also noted that this caused a decline of more than 30 percent as of January compared to the previous year.
However, it is a fact that there is no deviation from the targets. If the climatic conditions permit and a good yield is obtained with high quality wheat, the export target of 2 billion dollars might become a reality this year…
By Taner Öztürk,
Agricultural Journalist and TV Presenter
Source: webagron.com
