Pasta producers in Turkey earned 780 million dollars from their exports of 1 million 370 thousand tons of products to 160 countries in 2021.
Ranking second in the world after Italy in pasta exports, Turkey’s foreign sales last year increased by 3 percent on value basis compared to the previous year and reached 780 million dollars.
The sector, which exports 1 million 370 thousand tons of products in total, made the most export to African countries with 731 thousand tons and generated 379 million 503 thousand dollars income.
South American countries took the second place with 218 thousand tons, Asian countries took the third place with 98 thousand tons, and Middle Eastern countries took the fourth place with 64 thousand tons. Last year, 18 thousand tons of pasta was sent to European Union countries.
“Our exports to 160 countries were carried out without any problems”
Pasta Industrialists Association (TMSD) Chairman of the Board Abdülkadir Külahçıoğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) that in addition to climate change, the disruption of the supply chain due to the epidemic and the problems in logistics made the importance of food products even more evident.
Reminding that the strict export of pasta was restricted between January 1 and April 30, 2021, within the scope of the measures taken, Külahçıoğlu said, “In the first 4 months of last year, our exports decreased by about 15 percent. Afterwards, as a result of the consultations our industry made with the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, a permanent solution was found and exceeded. With the next recovery, we succeeded in closing the year with a 9 percent decrease in quantity but a 3 percent increase in value.” said.
The target is to exceed 1 billion dollars in foreign sales by 2022
Indicating that the sector is targeting 1 billion dollars in foreign sales this year, Külahçıoğlu said, “We will take firm steps towards the 1 billion dollar export target that we revised this year. Now, the measures we took with the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have become permanent. When we evaluate together with domestic consumption, the total size of our sector It has exceeded 1.5 billion dollars. We also maintain the balance of exports and domestic consumption.” used his statements.
TMSD Chairman of the Board of Directors Külahçıoğlu pointed out that the sector provides employment for 50 thousand people directly and indirectly, and stated that Turkey’s power in international competition has been further increased with new investments in the sector.
Emphasizing that Turkey is the world’s largest exporter of pasta after Italy, Külahçıoğlu pointed out that this success was achieved despite the 20 thousand-ton quota applied by the European Union in pasta imports and the anti-dumping tax and compensatory tax imposed by the USA.
Külahçıoğlu stated that the efforts to remove the obstacles in front of increasing exports are continuing and said:
“Pasta is an important topic in the negotiations with the European Union. The USA has anti-dumping and compensatory tax practices. The Ministry of Trade has an expanded negotiation work for these. In terms of international relations, the free trade agreement with Japan has come to an end. We expect the signing of this agreement with Japan in 2022. Last year, England left the European Union and our country was given an additional quota of approximately 17 percent. There are studies to expand the free trade agreement with the UK, which is still ongoing. One of the important items here is The pasta industry. We expect our capacity to increase in exports to England.”