Alp Eskiyapan
Treasurer Member of the Board
TUSAF
“In addition to the economic fluctuations, we experience on a global scale, climate change, natural disasters, wars and problems in energy resources are among the major risks for the coming years. It is of great importance that wheat, which is the main source of our nutrition and the raw material of our industry, is determined as a strategic product all over the world, and its production is increased in parallel with the increasing world population.”
We, as the Turkish Flour Industrialists Federation, have left 2023 behind, representing our sector and industry, which has become one of Turkey’s largest innovative and always forward-looking industrial communities. The global and local crises of the past year have deeply affected us as an indispensable part of the food industry.
In addition to the economic fluctuations, we experience on a global scale, climate change, natural disasters, wars and problems in energy resources are among the major risks for the coming years. Here, it is of great importance that wheat, which is the main source of our nutrition and the raw material of our industry, is determined as a strategic product not only in our country but also all over the world, and its production is increased in parallel with the increasing world population, in order not to be negatively affected by the afore-mentioned changes. It is possible to say that there has been an increase of approximately 100 thousand tons in 10-year periods in world grain production, which exceeds 2 billion tons. The world population is expected to stabilize at 10 billion by 2050. As the population increases, production and consumption will increase, but the fact that production has fallen behind consumption for the last 3 years is worrying.
When we look at our country, we see that despite the contraction in the cultivation areas, the production amounts remained the same with the increase in productivity, our production amount, which decreased to 17 million tons due to the drought in the 21st season, increased to 21.5 million tons, the highest production figure of the last 6 years, with the support in the last 2 years and the rains experienced this season. We expect that the increasing trend in production figures will continue in the 2024 season.
Flour consumption in our country continues stably in the 1213 million tons range. According to the data of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, there are 598 flour factories in 69 provinces in our country and these enterprises have a production capacity of approximately 30 million tons per year. As Anatolian Flour Industrialists Association, we are one of the regions with the most flour factories with a share of 22%. We will continue to work with all our strength to maintain our export leadership on a global scale as the flour industry in the 2024 season, together with our industrialists who mainly supply the domestic market.
Our main goals in the 2024 Season will be to protect the consumer, ensure fair competition in the sector with a binding, tightly controlled system of rules applied equally to all players, ensure the quality and safety of raw materials, compliance of production processes with standards, and safe and reliable food supply. Within the scope of the green agreement, we will accelerate our efforts to maintain quality, increase efficiency and reset the carbon footprint in the coming seasons.