Ahmet Guldal, the general manager of Turkish Grain Board (TMO) stated that the board bought 10 thousand tons of raisins in the past 10 days and paid 20 million liras.
Guldal examined the raisin purchase process of board experts on site by visiting the TMO purchasing centres in Manisa. He explained that the raisin purchasing process, which was started on September 7, is continuing intensely.
Guldal reminded that Bekir Pakdemirli, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, instructed TMO to purchase at least 50 thousand tons of raisins in order to regulate the market for this year’s crop of 270 thousand tons of raisins. He said:
‘’Accordingly, we made our warehouse preparations to purchase over 50 thousand tons. Today, we are on the 10th day; over 10 thousand tons of raisins have been purchased. But more importantly, an appointment amount of 40 thousand tons has applied to us for the purchase in the coming days. “
Guldal also reminded that they signed a protocol with the Agricultural Sales Cooperatives (Taris) Grape Union about purchasing raisins from the producer. He said:
‘’ Taris continues to buy grapes at the prices we set in its own purchasing centres and transfer this grape to TMO. In this sense, the purchasing process has been accelerated despite the intensity. “
20 million liras payment to the raisin producers
Ahmet Guldal pointed out that TMO paid the price of the raisins they bought from the producer in the same week of the purchase and said:”
‘’Our minister told us to make the payments every week, and we paid 20 million liras last week for the first 4-day purchases we made after September 7. We will pay this week as well; we have set our plans to pay every Thursday or Friday. There is no finance or warehouse problem. All of our purchasing spots are functioning actively, and our cooperation with Taris continues smoothly. “
“We will purchase as long as the product arrives.”
Guldal emphasized that TMO does not restrict itself to 50 thousand tons of product purchase and said:
‘’ We are planning to make purchases till December 31st. This is our duty anyway. We will purchase all products supplied to us until this date, be it through TMO or through Taris. The amount can vary; it can be 50 thousand tons, 60 thousand tons or 100 thousand tons… At this point TMO will be open as long as there is production; it will pay the price and serve the producers.’’
Guldal added that they have not yet made any plans for the evaluation of the raisins they bought, and that they will prefer the method that will provide the highest added value for their domestic or foreign market.
source: AA / translated by Melisa Karayusufoglu