Rising Turkish Poultry Exports Bring Opportunity to D-8 Market

Istanbul, Turkey | April 20, 2009 by D-8 Secretariat

Workers at a poultry facility in Bolu packing chickens for sale. Turkish poultry producers have pinned their hopes on increasing exports particularly to neighbor countries, as well as to D-8 market

Turkey’s poultry exports in the first quarter of 2009 increased by 254 percent over the same period the year before. In 2008 the sector’s exports stood at $87 million. While exports of chicken rose 204 percent to $26.2 million, exports of turkey climbed 371 percent to $498,000 in the same period.

Turkey’s largest poultry exports in first quarter of 2009 went to Iraq, with $19 million, a 16.6 percent increase over same period of 2008. Iraq was followed by Tajikistan with $1.7 million in exports, Azerbaijan with $1.7 million, Vietnam with $1.1 million and Congo with $551,000. However Turkey’s poultry exports to the Far East declined by 7 percent to $5.8 million in the same period. China was among the biggest importers of poultry, particularly chicken feet.

Poultry Meat Producers and Breeders Association (BESD-BİR) Secretary-General Yüce Canoler said on Sunday in Bursa that this record increase in poultry exports was primarily due to demand from Iraq. “Iraq used to import poultry from Brazil until recently, when they started to face problems with delivery. Following this, they have turned to Turkey. We provide the Iraqi market with fresh poultry, and they choose to buy from us instead of purchasing frozen goods from Brazil. Proximity is another important factor,” he explained, adding, “We hope poultry trade between the two countries will continue improving.”

He said they are planning to open up to the other Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “We see the Iraqi market as a door opening to the Arab world. We have achieved enough success and experience in promoting and popularizing Turkish poultry goods in Iraq. I believe the other Middle East and Gulf countries will like our products once they see the quality we offer,” he noted, adding that they hope the Ministry of Agriculture will support their efforts to this end. Stressing that Saudi Arabia and the UAE import a total of 700,000 tons of poultry per year on average, Turkey, as a Muslim country, has an advantage over countries such as Brazil in these markets because they buy only buy halal meat — meat slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.

Chance to return to EU Rising exports bring hope to ailing Turkish poultry sector

Mentioning EU sanctions on Turkish poultry, Canoler noted that France, the Netherlands and Romania have recently approved seven facilities in Turkey to which they have sent inspectors in advance. Following Ankara’s decision to ban red meat imports from the EU following the emergence of mad cow disease, the EU stopped buying meat and milk products from Turkey.

Canoler also said they would like to initiate poultry exports to Russia, a market in which they see huge potential, as soon as possible. “We are looking forward to a Russian commission coming to inspect 12 facilities in Turkey,” he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, seeing the potential for exports to Russia, suggested last year that their Russian counterparts send inspectors to facilities in Turkey. Russia halted poultry imports from the US following last year’s conflict in Georgia.

Canoler said some Turkish poultry producers have had to sell products at cost or lower since November 2007 due to heavy contraction in the domestic market. “A kilogram of chicken is sold for TL 4.5 on average. The producers make only 25 Kr in profit per kilogram, considering the cost of production, transportation and value-added tax. There have been times when we sold chicken for TL 2 per kilogram while it cost us TL 3. Many companies had to shut down for this reason last year. We hope the remaining firms will have a chance to heal their wounds thanks to the increase in exports,” he stated.

Banvit has also expanded into the red-meat business in Turkey by establishing a 19,000-head cattle feedlot in Bandırma. The marginal cost of red meat is lower, as the company has already invested in storage and distribution networks for chicken and turkey products nationwide. “Our customers pushed us into this segment because they wanted to work with a reliable supplier,” Görener said. The company aims to double its daily red-meat production in 2009 from 300 cattle a day to 600.

D-8 has held the 1st Ministerial Meeting on Food Security in Kuala Lumpur, on February 25-27. Secretary General, Dipo Alam, said that active participations from developed poulterers such as the Turkish Banvit and other potentials poulterers across the D-8 region to exchange knowledges and recommendations would further strengthen the cooperation for food security sector to the member countries.

Prior to that, taking into action of D-8 cooperation in food security programs, SG has also visited MayAgro Seeds, one of private sector that producing seeds, earlier this year in Bursa, Turkey to encourage them to takes part to become as one of seed bank among D-8 countries. SG met with president of MayAgro, Mehmet Ali Yormazoglu and talking some points of benefit as one D-8 Seed Bank. One of its, is as geographically, location Turkey is strategic to produce and supply varies of seeds to Africa, Europe, Middle East, and South Asia.  So that, MayAgro may take this advantage to wide their capacity of supply, not only for domestic supply, but also the region near Turkey. This is a good market for D-8 to increase trade volume, as well as to raise profit for MayAgro itself. But, according to president of MayAgro, one of threaten in trade is too high tariff and import tax from destination countries. “Trade barriers, such as tariff and import tax, are still become big problem to exporter countries, besides red-tape problems”. SG has concerned about this. “With Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) among D-8 countries, these trade barriers would be expected to reduce so that any trade activities more easier for businessmen.”

“I deeply hope that the declining export to general Pacific regions would be seen in the different way, which is the opportunity to boost it to other way such as Indonesia and Malaysia,” Alam said. He also underlined that the global crisis should nevertheless signify the business opportunity to D-8 huge market.

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