The food product that gets the most attention is pasta in South American cuisine. The pasta culture obtained from Italians is widespread almost in all the region countries. When world pasta consumption is reviewed; it is seen that South American countries have important rates. Even, the highest pasta consumption after Italy is realized in this region. Even though dried pasta comes to the forefront among the pasta varieties, fresh pasta consumption has also an important place in the consumption. South American cuisine is based on the traditional cuisines of the immigrants that form the people of America. This culture is generally based on the European cuisines like the ones in Portugal, France and Italia. However, local ingredients and techniques were adapted to these different cuisine traditions in a way more or less. Cuisine cultures of the South American countries resemble to each other in general just like in many other regions. The food product that gets the most attention is pasta in South American cuisine. The pasta culture obtained from Italians is widespread almost in all the region countries. When world pasta consumption is reviewed; it is seen that South American countries have important rates. Even, the highest pasta consumption after Italy is realized in this region. Even though dried pasta comes to the forefront among the pasta varieties, fresh pasta consumption has also an important place in the consumption. Fresh pasta sales usually are made in small stores as ready for consumption. Another attraction point is the consumption of corn flour. In countries except for Argentina and Brazil that are wheat producers, corn flour is more popular than the wheat flour. Corn flour is used intensely in the production of mainly bread and many other bakery products. In South American countries, where confectionary culture is developed, it draws attention that filled products are preferred more. BREAD, PASTA AND BISCUIT IN ARGENTINA Argentina is one of the world’s largest food producers. From past until today, Argentina natives have been ranching and consuming meat as main nutrient. Thus Argentinian cuisine is based on meat and meat usage is very common in lots of meals. Besides meat; wheat, corn, milk, bean, soy bean have an important place on the country’s cuisine. Eating habits in the country varies according to 4 main regions. This variety emerges on the nutrients except for meat as the main nutrient. Besides; the variety of Argentinian public, which consists of Spanish, Jewish, French, Italian, German immigrants and native people, has affected the food culture of Argentina. For instance; pasta and pizza consumption is as widespread as meat consumption due to the Italian immigrants. Fresh pasta varieties such as fideos (noodles), tallarines (fettucine and tagliatelle), ñoquis (gnocchi), ravioles and canelones (cannelloni) are manufactured and sold at many shops in big cities. Pasta variety in Argentina is not limited with these products. Spaghetti, fusilli, pasta strips called as cintas, lasagna, different kinds of ravioli that are Argentina-origin like sorrentinos and agnolottis (agnolotti) are other common pasta varieties in the country. As wheat production is significantly high in the country, the production of bakery products and white bread is developed as well. Despite the fact that Argentinians do not consume bread intensely, they have white bread on their table all the time as the wheat is grown abundantly. Another mostly consumed bread type in the country besides white bread is “sandwiches de miga”. Qualified as bread without crust, this kind of bread consists of thin layers and is filled with ham, cheese, tomatoes, olives, eggs, tuna, lettuce, red pepper and other similar combinations. Another important bakery product is empanadas. Empanadas are a kind of traditional filled pastry that is consumed in both Argentina and South American countries. Empanadas in Argentina generally are 10 cm and crescent-shaped. There are different kinds of empanadas filled with beef, chicken, ham, cheese and other ingredients. One of the most popular bakery products is medialunas that is similar to french croissant. The density of wheat in Argentina also supported the spread of pasta and pizza culture coming from Italy. The pizzas made of very thin or thick dough and cooked in the stone oven are sold everywhere corner of the country. Milk puddings, creamy desserts and pastries are preferred in general in Argentina where confectionary products are very much liked. Jam is used mostly in those confectionaries. “Dulce de leche” as a sweet paste is another national food and consumed with toast bread made for breakfast. It is also used as a filling ingredient for the products such as cake, pancake and cookie-like confectionaries. Alfajores is one of the sandwich-like cookies filled with chocolate, “dulce de leche” or fruit-jellies. As it is understood from these products, both bakery products and deserts and confectionaries are generally filled or covered with “dulce de leche”. Products like milk, cream, quince or apple jelly are used as filling in the bakery products. Moon cakes, croissant, bread, butter and jam are preferred for breakfast in the country. Mainly meat, rice, potato and fresh vegetables are consumed for lunch and dinner that are the two most important meals. These meals are generally finished with a milk pudding. Besides these three meals, sandwich or cake-like foods are commonly consumed with tea in the afternoon. This culture was brought to Argentina by British people. BISCUIT AND PASTA MARKET IN ARGENTINA Pasta consumption per capita in Argentina is around 7,9 kg levels and the country realizes over 300 thousand tons of pasta production every year. However; the level of pasta production in the country that is developed and can meet the domestic demand points that the country is not an attractive market for the exporters now. Of course, the potential formed by the increasing consumption demand for future should not be ignored. Confectionary and chocolate products market has a higher potential for the exporters. It is estimated that the total sales volume of Argentina in confectionary and chocolate products has reached to 4 billion dollars with 22% increase. The interest on healthy products in especially chocolate products has increased. Different tastes with milk and yogurt attract attention. Another potential in the country is considered as yeast market. As the consumption of bakery products in Argentina has significantly increased in the recent years, yeast import increased 8% between 2010 and 2011. Paraguay, China, France, Brazil and Italy are the prominent countries in the yeast market of Argentina importing approximately 10,8 million-dollar yeast in 2011. Turkey ranked 8th with 340 thousand-dollar yeast export in 2011 but declined to 260 thousand dollars by decreasing 22% in 2012 due to the import barriers in the country. BREAD, PASTA AND BISCUIT IN BRAZIL Brazilian cuisine is based on meat just like Argentinian cuisine. Different from Argentina, seafood and rice are more widespread and fish is consumed much more than red meat. The impacts of Portuguese, Spanish, Austrian, Russian and especially The Central and Southern African cuisines are felt in Brazilian cuisine. For instance; the “black bean” that is almost the national food of Brazilian people today emerged with the impact of African cuisine and then developed with the impact of European cuisine. Just like in Argentina, Italian cuisine’s impact is thoroughly seen via pasta and pizza consumption in Brazil. Spaghetti, lasagna, lamen and medium thin spaghetti called as yakisoba are widely consumed. Dried pasta constitutes 80%, noodle constitutes 15% and fresh pasta constitutes 5% of the consumed pasta in Brazil. Besides pasta; cookie-like snacks and bakery products are intensely consumed in the country. Salgadinhos as a salty snack is one of them. Pão de queijo is a typical Brazilian snack that can be defined as cheese bread. Cassava used as flour in many regions is used intensely also in Brazil. Consisting of little roulades, Pão de queijo is made with cassava flour, milk, egg and cheese. These kinds of bread and bakery products are obtained from frozen and ready to cook product markets as ready for use. Esfiha is a kind of pastry or a pie that was transferred from Middle Eastern culture to Brazil. Meat, cheese and vegetables are used as filling ingredient for esfiha that can be found easily in northeast, south and southeast regions of the country. Another bakery product is Pastéis coming from Chinese culture. Cheese or meat is used as filling ingredient for that product that resembles the fried version of Empanadas in Argentina. Broa is cornbread with fennel. Pizza is also a popular product in Brazil. Pizzas that generally cooked in the wood-fired oven are thin and flexible. There is a very rich desert and confectionary culture in Brazil. Brazilian deserts are generally made with fruits. Mousse deserts especially made of fruit are widely consumed. Mango and orange mousses are the most prominent ones. Besides; fruit puddings are important deserts of Braizilian cuisine. The desert culture in Brazil emerged especially by the impact of Austrians coming to the country in the 18th century. Going down south at the end of that century and at the beginning of 19th century, Austrians brought their famous desert and confectionary culture to this country. Of course, Portuguese cuisine also contributed a lot to the deserts. Becoming widespread with Austria and Portugal impact, the desert and confectionaries became authentic with the contributions of Brazilian natives. Cookies and biscuits (biscoitos de maizena) made of corn starch, grated coconut and eggs are popular in the country. Starch biscuits with a hard form are a kind of crisp dry toast called as “biskot”. Cuscuz branco is the version of rice pudding made with coconut milk, sugar and couscous instead of rice. Brazilian drinks coffee, milk, fruit juice and especially orange juice and they eat bread, butter and fruits. Having a light lunch, Brazilian has strongly black beans, rice, meat and especially plenty of vegetables in that meal. Fresh vegetables always come with potato. The meal is always completed with a desert. Dinner is the most important meal of the family. The entire family is gathered at the same table and they eat their dinner together. Soup is drunk firstly; then fish, meat, chicken, vegetable and also black bean and rice. Dinner is always completed with a desert. BISCUIT AND PASTA MARKET IN BRAZIL Brazil is the world’s third largest pasta producer after Italy and USA with the production amount over 1 million tons. The pasta industry in Brazil has been restructured since the beginning of 1990s. Production capacity has increased over 1.4 million tons as a result of the new investments. It is estimated that there are around 80 producers in the sector. Besides; it is known that over 100 small companies make production of the products in home-made style for the local markets. Pasta is produced in the country with 4 kinds called as “massa de sêmola com ovos”, “massa de sêmola”, “massa comum” and “massa tipo caseira” and “macarrão” is used for the general definition. Many producers in the sector produce flour and bakery products like cake and cookie besides pasta. Cooked and ready for consumption pasta is among the presented products. Pasta is generally made of bread wheat (soft wheat) in Brazil. 3% of the total production is made of the imported durum wheat. As pasta’s raw material wheat is grown in Parana and Rio Grande do Sul states that are in the southern region of Brazil. However; as the wheat production does not meet the need, the deficit is generally imported from the neighbor country Argentina. Although Brazil is a good pasta producer, it applies import due to the intense domestic demand. The country’s pasta import increases by years and Italy is the most important supplier. Chile, Uruguay, France and Argentina are other important supply sources. Pasta is also a product that Brazil realized 39 million-dollar export in 2012. As being the 2nd largest country in confectionary products, Brazil also makes imports for that product group. Confectionary and chocolate products (1704 and 1806) import of Brazil in the last five years has increased and reached to 166 million Dollars from 71 million Dollars. Turkey’s chocolate products export to Brazil is 2,2 million Dollars and cocolin group products are exported more. For the confectionary products group, almost the entire export to Brazil consists of gummy and jelly confectioneries. Another potential market field is yeast. Realizing 50,3 million-Dollar yeast import in 2012, Brazil ranks 6th in the world with its import rate of 3,2% for that product. China, Paraguay, Germany and Turkey follow Argentina with its 39% share in Brazilian yeast market. Turkey realized approximately 4,1 million-Dollar yeast export to Brazil in 2012. The most important reason of this development is that there has been a significant increase in the consumption of bakery products in Brazilian market recently. BREAD, PASTA AND BISCUIT IN COLOMBIA Colombia has an important cuisine culture and the variety of this cuisine according to the regions can be seen clearly. The variety in agricultural production has an important role on the variety of the cuisine. Coffee, cut flowers, banana, rice, tobacco, corn, sugar cane, cocoa, oil seeds and vegetables constitute the base of agricultural production. The use of spicy and meat is important just like all other Latin American countries. As it has shores of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, it has also quite a variety of seafood. In the north fish and shrimp; at the central parts soup varieties come to the forefront. Rice dish varieties and little flat breads substituting bread called as Arepa and made of corn are important food varieties. Another bread type is Pandebono that is made of corn flour, cheese and egg and consumed hot. Tamales is a kind of corn dough filled with meat, chicken and vegetable. Pasta is among the widely consumed foods. The consumed pasta variety resembles to the one in Brazil and Argentina. There is a rich bakery and confectionary variety in the country. Buñuelos is a popular fried dough that can be found in many South American countries and is consumed as a snack. The Colombian version of this snack is made with white curd cheese. Empanada is widely consumed in Colombia just like in other Latin American countries. The use of coconut, milk and ducle de leche is widespread in confectionary and cookie varieties. Made of very well cooked white corn, Mazamorra de Maiz is one of the traditional deserts of the country. As it is understood from all of these; corn flour usage is more common than the wheat flour in the bakery products of Colombia. Breakfast is very important in Colombia and consists of fruit juice, coffee or hot chocolate with fruit, egg and bread. Lunch consists of soup and traditional main dish. Desert is certainly consumed. They have snacks for dinner. PASTA AND BISCUIT MARKET IN COLOMBIA Colombia realized its pasta import in 2012 mainly from Italy, Mexico and Chile. In the same year, it is seen that Turkey increased its share in Colombian market from 0% to 2,6% for that product. Pasta brands with important share in Colombian market try to keep the prices at a low level. Besides, they adopted the strategy of making pasta a more practical food with the pasta varieties prepared quickly by some sauces and additional ingredients. They aim to make pasta perceived as a main dish not a complementary dish besides the main dish. Colombia realized the import of chocolate products, wafers and biscuits in 2012 mainly from USA, Brazil, Mexico and Peru that are close to the country in terms of geography. Turkey’s share in chocolate products is around 6% and in biscuits is around 3%. Colombian people has been turning to chocolate products with high quality recently. Healthy and low calorie products are getting consumed more day by day. BREAD, PASTA AND BISCUIT IN VENEZUELA Like other South American countries’ cuisines, the cuisine of Venezuela is generally based on meat, fish and rice. Affected from Spanish, Italian and French cuisines; little black bean is the most indispensable nutrient of Venezuelan cuisine. Venezuelan people consume rice and black bean a lot. Rice and bean have an important place especially in the nutrition of rural areas. Pasta is a food that is produced and consumed in high amounts. Being the second largest pasta consumer after Italy, Venezuela is also among the largest 10 pasta producer of the world. The rate of per capita consumption in the country is 13,2 kg. Dried pasta constitutes 70% of the total pasta production. Potato-based Ñoquis is one of the popular pasta varieties in Venezuela coming from the Italian culture. Pasticho is a Venezuelan version of lasagna. The tropical fruits grown in plenty amounts in Venezuela are often used in meals and deserts. Especially the fried banana and pineapple is a side dish served with the main dish. Venezuelan people use banana leaves also for cooking. With their water impermeability feature, these leaves are filled with thin corn dough, meat, fish or chicken and then the leaves are wrapped. These wrapped leaves are cooked in the boiling water. It is a special dinner for Christmas. In some regions, the leaves are filled with egg and chickpea and wrapped. Corn is consumed a lot in Venezuela and Arepa bread made of corn flour is widespread in the country. A kind of curd cheese without salt is put inside the Arepa in Venezuela. Venezuelan people make the Arepa and consume it freshly in the breakfast and also eat it filling with meat, chicken or fish for lunch. Cachapa is a bakery product made of corn flour and it is similar to pancake. Casaba is a widely consumed bread type. It is accepted that this bread is the oldest one in the American continent. BESITO DE COCO is a popular cookie consisting of coconut balls. Venezuelan people usually have a light breakfast. The breakfast consists of bread, butter and jam. Lunch that was the most important meal in the past changed with the women’s entering to working life and became a meal with a sandwich or a light meal. Dinner is the most important meal of the Venezuelan people today. Venezuelan people have soup, main dish and desert for dinner. The main dish generally consists of meat, vegetable and rice. PASTA AND BISCUIT MARKET IN VENEZUELA The consumption trend of flour and bakery products in Venezuela is high and pasta consumption increases. The recent high inflation, rapid population growth, cheap price of pasta, increasing possibilities of marketing and transportation, working women’s preferences for prepared food as a result of the rapid urbanization are the effects that increase pasta consumption. Pasta consumption in Venezuela is around 300 thousand tons and it is estimated to increase 12,7% between 2011 and 2016. Pasta import is realized in quite high amounts as the production capacity of the pasta sector is low and the domestic demand increases. As the sector depends on the import, pasta is a potential for the exporters. The share of Turkey from the pasta import of Venezuela in 2011 was 22%. The biscuit sales are around 75 thousand tons annually and it is estimated that biscuit retail sales will increase 13% between 2011 and 2016. Especially the biscuits made of whole wheat flour are very popular among consumers. Besides these; salty biscuits and crackers are another product group for which the demand has increased as they are substitute for bread. Women are the major consumers of these products as they think that these products have less fat. Thus the companies in the market started to present the biscuit varieties with sweetener agent instead of sugar in line with the demand. The biscuits put on the market by using different ingredients are among the demanded products. BREAD, PASTA AND BISCUIT IN PERU Reflecting the country’s history, the Peruvian cuisine has a versatile structure that has the effects of many cultures. Peruvian cuisine consists of the natives’ eating traditions, the cuisines of Spanish conquerors affected from Arabs partially, Italian, German and Japan cuisines. The Chinese immigrants formed a Chinese-Peruvian cuisine in the middle of 19th century. The African culture of the black slaves took its place in Peruvian cuisine. Due to all of these reasons, Peruvian cuisine is accepted as the most sophisticated cuisine of the Latin America. The immigrants made their traditional foods authentic for Peru by using the local ingredients. The basic foodstuff of Peruvian cuisine is corn, potato and chili pepper. Sweet potato meals are widely consumed. Rice, wheat and meat are among the foodstuff brought by Spanish immigrants. The use of quinoa and kaniwa is has been widespread recently. Brought by Spanish immigrants to the country in the past; wheat, barley, oats, rice, lentils, chickpeas, white sugar, almonds, walnuts, cheese and etc. are among the food staples of Peruvian people today. Brought to the country by Italian immigrants, the pasta culture is an is an inseparable part of the Peruvian cuisine tradition as it is a food that can be prepared quickly. Pasta is used as the main ingredient of various soups and traditional meals. “Tallarin saltado” (pasta prepared with red meat, onion and tomato slices) and “tallarin con pollo” (pasta served with red sauce and a piece of chicken) are among the traditional pasta meals. “Tallarines verdes” (spaghetti prepared with cheese sauce, spinach and basil) shows that the sauce culture of the country does not consist of only red sauce and the country has a rich sauce culture. In Peru where spaghetti kind is used widely; ravioli and gnocchi varieties are among the preferred ones. People show great attention to the bakeries in Peru. You can see that people form long queues for especially fresh bread in the morning and in the evening. Consuming bread with coffee and tea in the breakfast, Peruvians fortify the bread with some fats like lard except for baguette. Whole wheat bread are more common in rural towns. A few coastal cities’ bakeries produce “bollos,” as loaves of bread. Besides white bread; the consumption of sandwich bread called as Jamon del pais (Butifarras) is also common. This bread is a sandwich with “Peruvian ham”, sliced onions, sliced chili peppers, lime, salt, pepper, oil, in a type of white bread roll. Besides these; Empanada that was brought to the country by the Spanish people in the colonial era and is very widespread in the South American continent is one of the bakery products consumed often. This pastry is filled with chicken, beef, cheese, olive, hard-boiled eggs and raisins in Peru. One of the most prominent products among the confectionary food range consumed in the country is “Alfajores” biscuits. This kind is one of the most important elements of traditional Peruvian cuisine and also widespread in other South American countries. This biscuit variety is a butter cookie filled with caramel and cream. Besides this; “Teja” confectionaries have an important place in the country cuisine. This candy is filled with milky mixture or dried nuts and fruits and coated with a fondant-like shell. Besides; filled with filled with milk candy, some pineapple sweet and in some cases peanuts, with cookies within its layers, King Kong cookies are also consumed widely. PASTA AND BISCUIT MARKET IN PERU Approximately 250 thousand tons of pasta production is realized in Peru annually. Per capita pasta consumption in the country is over 8 kg. However; as the production does not meet the consumption, Peru is not considered as a potential for the pasta exporters. The retail sales of biscuits, which is perceived as a healthier product compared to cake and bread, has significantly increased in the recent years. Especially the biscuits produced with plenty of grains are among the mostly consumed products. Salty biscuits and crackers is another product group whose demand has increased as they substitute bread. The biscuit import in the country has increased consistently and reached to 11,9 million-Dollard from 4 million Dollars in the last five years.