Abdülkadir Külahçıoğlu, the Chairman of the Executive Board of Pasta Industrialists Association of Turkey said that pasta industry of Turkey which is the second leader pasta exporter following Italy aims to produce 1 million tons of pasta at the end of 2017.

Stating that Turkey is the second leader exporter following Italy, Abdülkadir Külahçıoğlu, the Chairman of Pasta Industrialists Association of Turkey said “We are exporting to 154 countries in the world. We aim to increase out export which was 831 thousand tones last year, up to 1 million tones. Our aim after exceeding this psychological limit corresponding to 700 million dollars is to reach 1 billion dollars.” Külahçıoğlu stated that Turkey is ranked as the fourth in the world in durum wheat production, and has quality production, and Turkey has gain acceleration especially within the last 10 years in terms of pasta production. Stating that Turkey is exporting pasta to 154 countries in the world, Külahçıoğlu continued his words “This is very important; the industry has grabbed a slice of history in terms of our market diversity and introducing Turkish pasta to the world”.

EU AND USA QUOTA IS AN OBSTACLE FOR TURKEY Saying that quota and anti-damping applied by the European Union (EU) and USA for Turkey are significant obstacles for Turkey, Külahçıoğlu stated: “Due to the quota applied by the EU, Turkey can only export 20 thousand tons of pasta to all of the EU countries. However, the potential there is much higher. In the event that quota is removed in the EU, we as the industry undertake to increase our export to 2 billion dollars within 3 years. This issue is still being negotiated. I hope we can receive a positive response for this issue until the end of the year.”