Ege Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds and Products Exporters' Association Exceeds Export Target

Mustafa TERCİ, Chairman of the Board of the Aegean Cereals, Legumes, Oilseeds and Products Exporters Association, spoke as follows about 2020: As the Aegean Cereals, Legumes, Oilseeds and Products Exporters Association, we set an export target of USD 500 million as we entered 2020. We increased our exports from USD 443 million in 2019 to USD 505 million with a 14% increase, and we exceeded our export target despite the pandemic. Our vegetable oil exporters made the largest contribution to the Association's 2020 exports with USD 260 million, while our chocolate and confectionery exports reached USD 40 million and our oilseed exports reached USD 38 million. Our spice exports amounted to USD 29 million, and grain-based products exports reached USD 27 million. Four of the top 5 countries in our exports were African countries. Libya ranked first with exports of USD 38.5 million, while Algeria ranked second with exports of USD 35.7 million. We exported USD 35.6 million to Yemen, USD 30.8 million to India, and USD 24.3 million to Tunisia. When we look at Turkey as a whole, we export to 203 countries, primarily the Middle East, the United States, and Africa. Within the scope of Aegean Exporters Associations, we export to 150 countries. In 2020, African countries such as Mali, Uganda, and South Sudan became our new markets. During the pandemic period, we also experienced the importance of sustainability especially in agriculture and the food supply chain. With the support of our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and our Ministry of Trade, we can say that our food sectors, which did not stop production and exports, managed the COVID-19 pandemic process well.

In 2020, 550 companies contributed to our Association's USD 505 million exports. When we look at Turkey as a whole, out of the total sector exports of USD 7.3 billion, approximately half, USD 3.7 billion, is realized by 50 companies. Looking specifically at Aegean Exporters Associations, 51% of the USD 505 million is realized by the top 5 companies.

While the lowest value-added products of our sector are legumes, bran obtained from corn and wheat, sugar beet byproducts and waste used as animal feed, our highest value-added products are vegetable and flower seeds and aromatic oils such as coconut oil and laurel oil. In this period we are in, the importance of digitalization and e-exports has become clear. We have seen that companies investing in digitalization have taken one step ahead. As the Aegean Exporters Associations, we have demonstrated that we are one step ahead through both the Blockchain and Digital Transformation working groups we have established within our organization, the training we provide to our members, the virtual fairs and trade delegations we organized promptly and obtained successful results, and the online events we have carried out within the scope of the Turquality project. Through such activities, we ensured the continuity of our commercial activities during a period when face-to-face meetings were not possible. To achieve our targets, we continue our efforts to increase domestic and national production, free our country from import dependency, produce and export more value-added products with domestic and national production, and contribute to closing the current account deficit. For 2021, we are targeting a 10% increase in exports. We will work to increase our export figures above USD 550 million. We believe that we will obtain positive results from our efforts with our Ministry of Trade regarding the opening of poppy seed imports of India, our traditional export market. With the support of our Board of Directors and yours, we will continue our efforts to increase our exports, so that our exporters and producers earn more and create added value.