Turkiye’s exports of grains, pulses, oilseeds and their products, which include basic food products, increased by 5.4% in January compared to the same period last year, reaching $1.03 billion.
According to the statement of Turkish Food Exporters (TGI), the export revenues of the sector, which exported 1.1 million tons in January, increased by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, and its share in Turkiye’s total agricultural exports reached 33%.
The provinces with the highest exports in the grains, pulses, oilseeds and products sector were recorded as Istanbul, Gaziantep and Mersin, and the countries with the highest exports were Iraq, the USA and Syria.
Ahmet Tiryakioglu, Chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds and Products Sector Board, stated that the global food industry started 2024 hopeful, despite the various risks brought by recession expectations, regional wars, climate crisis and cost increases.
Tiryakioglu said, “Although agricultural input costs have increased, global food prices may remain calm for a while due to the contraction in demand brought about by monetary tightening programs. What is important at this point is that the support provided by states to agricultural producers continues in order to balance the increase in producer prices and combat inflation.”
Underlining that demands in this direction are behind the ongoing farmers’ protests across Europe, Tiryakioglu pointed out that one of the critical issues will be agricultural production in an environment where it is unknown how long the impact of the conflicts in the Middle East will last on oil and logistics processes.
Tiryakioglu said, “Last year in our country, the purchases of the Soil Products Office exceeded 13 million tons, while the agricultural support payments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry exceeded ₺63 billion. Our public resources were used to support production in this process.”
Stating that one of the most important issues for food exporters right now is access to finance, Tiryakioglu said:
“At this point, Eximbank’s $50 billion support promise reassured our exporters, whose financing costs have increased recently. In a year that was very productive in terms of yield, these domestic developments enabled us to start 2024 with big targets. Turkiye’s largest companies in the field of basic food have become members. It was formed by 6 exporters’ unions from different regions.
Since the field of activity of the grains, pulses, oilseeds and their products sector is wide and rich, there are very big brands competing on an international scale under the roof of our associations. Each of our businesses carries out marketing activities that make a splash in their own fields, but individual activities do not contribute as much to the common perception of the sector as we would like. The cooperation of our 6 exporter associations was a very important step in Turkiye’s recognition as one of the world’s leading food exporters. This month, we will be at the Gulfood fair in Dubai with the Turkish Food Exporters brand. We will make a great contribution to the perception of Turkish goods in the Middle East market with the promotional activities we will organize for our potential customers here.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz