BBM 70 November 2023

BBM • NOVEMBER - KASIM 2023 58 INTERVIEW • RÖPORTAJ given its leadership in global flour exports, as well as the future of the agriculture and food sector. We also delved into the future prospects of the agriculture and food sector. Furthermore, Ulusoy shed light on the future aspirations of Ulusoy Flour, a vanguard in Turkey’s food industry. Here’s a closer look at Chairman Günhan Ulusoy’s enlightening responses to our queries: Mr. Ulusoy, to begin with, could you enlighten us about the standing of Ulusoy Flour in both the Turkish and global markets? Ulusoy Flour is a food enterprise rooted in Samsun, initiated by my late father, Fahrettin Ulusoy, in 1969. Embarking on regional exports in the 1990s, it expanded its reach to both western Turkey and overseas markets after inaugurating a manufacturing plant in Çorlu, Tekirdağ in the early 2000s. The company marked a mile- stone by becoming the first in the flour industry to go public in 2014. Fast forward to January 2022, we acquired Söke Un, a prominent player recognized within the top ten of the ISO 500 list, from the UK-based Mediterra Capital Partners. Consequently, this added the Söke plants in Sincan-Ankara and in Aydın to our portfolio of production centers, all under the umbrella of Söke Değirmencilik A.Ş. Following the earthquake in February, which impacted 11 provinces, we acquired a milling facility in Hatay, thereby not only investing in the region but also generating employment. This ac- quisition bolstered the count of our operational facilities to five. Regarding our capacity: our 50th Year Production Facility in Samsun boasts an output of 2,085 tons per day. Our plants in Çor- lu, Aydın Söke, and Sincan have capacities of 400 tons, 640 tons, and 800 tons per day, respectively. Thus, we currently harness an operational strength of 3,925 tons. With the anticipated com- missioning of our Hatay plant post its refurbishment, which has a capacity of 275 tons, our cumulative capacity will scale to 4,200 tons. This makes us the entity with the most expansive installed capacity throughout Turkey. Although we initially aimed to kick off operations at our Hatay facility in this year’s third quarter, this time- line has been pushed to the fourth. In addition to our flour production units, our subsidiary, Ulidaş Licensed Warehousing, operates across four locales. This year, we added the Germencik site in Aydın to our existing facilities in Sorgun (Yozgat), Çerikli (Kırıkkale), and Alaca (Çorum). These four sites collectively offer a storage capacity of 190,000 tons, enabling our group to engage in licensed warehousing activities. We strate- gically positioned these storage sites near domestic grain produc- tion hubs, particularly proximal to the Samsun 50th Year Facility. This is crucial given Samsun’s daily production capacity of 2,085 tons necessitates sourcing equivalent quantities of wheat. Beyond the aforementioned endeavors, we have a footprint in the international agricultural trade sector. To that end, in 2018, we founded Rolweg, headquartered in Switzerland, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ulusoy Flour. This entity serves as ayrıca dünya un ihracat lideri Türkiye’nin bu sezonki per- formansını, tarım ve gıda sektörünün geleceğini sorduk. Ulusoy, röportajda ayrıca Türkiye’nin önde gelen gıda şirketlerinden biri olan Ulusoy Un’un gelecek hedeflerini anlattı. İşte Ulusoy Un YönetimKurulu Başkanı Günhan Ulusoy’un sorularımıza verdiği cevaplar: Günhan Bey, öncelikle bize Ulusoy Un’un, Türkiye ve uluslararası pazardaki konumunu anlatır mısınız? Ulusoy Un, temelleri 1969 yılında rahmetli babam Fah- rettin Ulusoy tarafından atılan, Samsun merkezli kurulmuş bir gıda şirketi. 1990’lı yıllarda bölgesel ihracat faaliyetle- rine başlayan, 2000’li yılların başında Tekirdağ Çorlu’daki fabrika yatırımıyla hem Türkiye’nin batı pazarlarına hem de denizaşırı pazarlara ulaşan, 2014’te ise un sektöründe ilk halka arzı gerçekleştiren, sektörün öncü ve lider şirketle- rinden biri. Ocak 2022’de sektörün en önemli oyuncula- rından biri olan, İSO 500 listesinde ilk onda yer alan Söke