Tahir Büyükhelvacıgil: The inability to import from these countries due to the Russia-Ukraine war caused concern in the oil industry.
Stating that ships to import raw materials from both countries could not come to Turkey during the war, Tahir Büyükhelvacıgil, Chair of the Vegetable Oil Industrialists’ Association (BYSD), said, “Price of oilseed per tonne is currently around 2 thousand dollars, but no transaction has occured yet. We try not to make the consumer feel too much in terms of price.”
The economic repercussions of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine also continue. While the inability to import from these countries due to the Russia-Ukraine war caused concern in the oil industry, Tahir Büyükhelvacıgil, Chair of the Vegetable Oil Industrialists’ Association (BYSD), noted, “There are ships waiting in the ports of war. If the ships come, we will relax.”
Büyükhelvacıgil also stated that if planting is not done in Ukraine, there may be problems and explained, “In January, while the last price was around 1400-1460 dollars before the war, today we hear prices exceeding 2 thousand dollars.”
“SHIPS DID NOT COME TO TURKEY”
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the oil sector, which imports raw materials from both countries, the ships to transport the products could not come to Turkey. This has caused concern in the industry. Büyükhelvacıgil added, “We rank 4th among the top 10 import items of our country as oilseeds. Really need to find a solution for this. Both the pandemic process and the war showed us that we need to be self-sufficient in agriculture.”
Indicating that the war also affected them, Büyükhelvacıgil concluded, “Because for years, we were able to use our supply in oilseeds until the end of April. After that, we were always importing. This is our need, around 3 million tonnes in our country. As our population develops and tourism increases, this need is 3 million tonnes, while we can meet 1.7 million tonnes of this and we have to import 1.3 million tonnes. We were importing 55 percent from Russia and 15 percent from Ukraine. This was disrupted because of the war. On the other hand, there are still ships of our industry waiting at the ports.”