“Türkiye has to produce wheat. The more it produces, the better. Türkiye must have enough wheat. For this, it is necessary to attract the farmer to wheat. We, as flour industrialists, have achieved this by holding the world export leadership for years. However, we are achieving this under the Inward Processing Regime (IR). My dream for Türkiye is to head up flour export with its domestic wheat. I believe we can achieve this together with our farmers.”
Haluk Tezcan
Chairman / Başkan
Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation
Türkiye Un Sanayicileri
Federasyonu (TUSAF)
The world has been going through a challenging period in the last few years. While the consequences of the global contractions that started with the Covid-19 pandemic continue, the war between the two grain giants, Russia and Ukraine, increased geopolitical risks for the food and grain industry. However, in this difficult process, the Turkish flour industry gave a successful test. Turkish flour industrialists accelerated the exports and mobilized to ensure that people, both in our country and all over the world, have access to flour and bread, which are one of the most basic foodstuffs, at reasonable prices.
At the meeting held with the theme of “Sectoral Outlook and Expectations after the 2022 Harvest Season” hosted by the Central Anatolian Flour Industrialists’ Association, one of the associations within the structure of the Federation, the sector representatives evaluated the current situation of the sector, as well as the crises and opportunities awaiting the world and our country. At the meeting in Konya, we came together with Haluk Tezcan, Chairman of the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TFIF), and we talked about the problems of the sector and listened to his solution offers.
Haluk Tezcan said that the public and private sectors have achieved great success by joining forces in favor of the industry and warned that Türkiye must increase its wheat production at any cost for the continuation of its achievements.
TFIF President said that the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) estimates that the premium support and high purchase prices for wheat this year will increase the wheat cultivation areas by 30 percent and that this would be a big step towards exporting flour with domestic production.
Speaking about the 2022 harvest season, Tezcan said that the harvest was fertile and that despite the difficulties experienced, Turkish flour industrialist, who supplied products to the domestic market without any problems, achieved a 33% increase in exports in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021.
First of all, can we get the latest information about this year’s wheat harvest from you? Are you happy with the current figures? Will Türkiye have a problem with wheat supply?
When evaluating the process, I think one should look at Türkiye’s story about wheat first. This story goes back centuries. Wheat is a legacy left to us by the Mesopotamian Plain... We have understood how critical wheat is for the world during the Covid-19 pandemic process and the subsequent Russia-Ukraine crisis that we are experiencing. Of course, we are in a process of anxiety due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which is still going on in the breadbasket of the world and we do not know what will happen. Apart from the destruction that this war will cause, it also brings reality to the concepts of food safety and food security, which we already see as a danger. Wheat stands out more than other grains in this sense.