23.03.2022 The Future of Exports Was Spoken At The Aegean Exporters' Associations, Aydın Meeting
The second stop of the Aegean Export Meeting held in the Aegean Region in cooperation with Aegean Exporters' Associations and Dünya Newspaper hosted by Aydın Commodity Exchange.
Aegean Export Meetings in Aydın, where the problems of our country and region's exports were expressed, the sustainability of competition in exports, the future of exports and the steps to be taken for the development of our region's agricultural products were discussed, started with the opening speeches of Fevzi Çondur, Board Chairman of Aydın Commodity Exchange.
Fevzi Çondur, Chairman of Aydın Commodity Exchange, informed about the agricultural production data and export figures carried out in our province. ''Agricultural production is carried out in 3 million 600 thousand decares in our provinces. Our province is the leader in production with 229 thousand tons in oil olives, 180 thousand tons in figs, 24 thousand tons in chestnuts, 66 thousand tons in strawberries, 204 thousand tons in barley, 270 thousand tons in cotton, 8,360 tons in artichokes and 63 thousand tons in wheat.'' expressed by Mr. Çondur.
Mr. Çondur; '' Olive Oil Premium Support Should Be Increased''
Referring to the problems experienced on product basis in agricultural production and stating that olive oil subsidies should be increased, an issue that has been raised for nearly 10 years, Mr. Çondur stated that they expect premium support for olive oil. Fevzi Çondur added ''these supports need to be increased urgently so that we have a chance to compete with leading countries such as Italy and Spain. In addition to, I would like to point out that is unacceptable to open olive groves, which provide a significant amount of foreign currency return to the economy of our country, which is one of the most important livelihoods of our province, to the patch of mining companies.''
Mr. Çondur stated that ''Despite the pandemic condtions, 225 billion dolars of exports were realized in our country in 2021 and Aydın has a share 1 billion 26 million liras in 2021 exports, the agricultural product exports realized in our province were 241 million dollars in 2021. Many products in Aydın province are from İzmir customs clearance outwards, Aydın export figures are above the current announced data in actual.''
Mr. Çondur, '' Our Export Target in Dried Figs is to Reach 10 Thousand Dollars Per Tone''
Referring to the agricultural product export data of Aydın province, Mr. Çondur said, ''When we look at the export figures of our province's agricultural products, our country has provided a foreign exchange input of approximately $86 million in dried figs, $25 million in olives, $27 million in pine nuts and $27 million in dried apricots. Our goal in exporting dried figs is to reach 10 thousand dollars per tone.'' In figs, where we are the world leader, he emphasized the importance of premium support and emphasized that figs should be protected and premium support should be provided.
Mr. Çondur, ''High Increases in Input Costs Should Be Prevented''
Emphasizing that the importance of agricultural production is understood with the pandemic process, Mr. Çondur stated that incentives and supports should be increased in order to find solutions to increasing input costs in agricultural production and exports. The importance of agricultural production is more understood with the pandemic process. However, high increases in input costs such as electiricity, natural gas, fuel, fertilizer, logistics and packaging should be prevented. In order to ensure that agricultural production and exports are not adversely affected, necessary measures should be taken immediately by our state and incentives and supports should be increased to ensure sustainability in agricultural production.
Davut Er, president of the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters Association, stated that Aydın is one of the cities that feeds Turkey in agricultural terms. He mentioned Aydın's export data by stating Aydın export ranks first in the production of dired figs, chestnuts, olive oil and celery, and secondly in strawberries, artichokes, citrus, fuits, fritters, tangerines and the third cotton and table olives.
Mr. Er added that ''Aydın exceeded 1 billion dollars for the first time in its history and reached th export figure of 1 billion 26 million dollars in 2021. We have thought that Aydın's exports exceeded 1.5 billion dollars when the export operations made in Aydın were taken into account in our exports from different provinces, especially Izmir and Istanbul. The mining sector made the most contribution to Aydın's exports with $200 million. Our enlightened dried fruit exporters brought 157 million dollars of foreign currency to Turkey. Our automotive sub-industry sector became our third largest exporter sector with an export performance of 134 million dollars. Our air conditioning sector was determined as $128 million and our Machinery sector was identified as other sectors that stood out with $90 million in exports. As the olive and olive oil sector, we contributed 30 million dollars to Aydın's exports. Our 5 companies in the top 10, including our first company in table olive exports of our Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters Association, are made up of our exporters who live in Aydın.''
Mr. Er ''Olive and Olive Oil Exports were Banned Is a Big Loss''
Mr. Er stated that in 2021, 288,00 tons of olive harvest were obtained from our 24 million olive trees, 44 thousand tons of table olives were produced, while they were the first in Turkey with 43 thousand tons in olive oil production. We're working day and night to double the exports of our intellectuals. It is a great loss that olive and olive oil exports are banned. For the Turkish exporter, it is extremely pessimistic for the position of Turkey. Questions have been raised in the US and UK over the last weeks. Olives are also on the banned list. This is a huge loss for Aydın and our country. Although the price of Riviera olive oil is below sunflower oil, people prefer Sunflower oil. Olive oil should be sold with added value. Restricting one and increasing the consumption of the other means protecting our domestic and national property and preventing the development of the farmer's olive trees. The main focus of the Ministry of Agriculture is not the export ban; to increase production, to reduce costs, to increase the oil obtained from our olive tree presence. We oppose the export ban. There are 33.5 million trees in Spain, they have production of 1,408,000 tons. There are 193 million trees in Turkey and 235 thousand tons of production. There are 159 million trees in Italy and 371,000 tons of production when Greece has 107 million trees and 235,000 tons production. Morocco has 103 million trees, 158,000 tons of production when Tunisia has 76 million trees and 240,000 tons of production. 75 percent of Tunisians consume Sunflower oil and export 80 percent of the oils they produce. If a commodity could be sold at added value, it should be sold and not banned too. We should focuse on this mark why so little oil is produced from 193 million trees.
Eskinazi, ''Aydın has a high export potential in agriculture and industry''
Stating that Aydın's export figures increased to 1 billion 26 million dollars in 2021, Aegean Exporters' Associations Coordinator Jak Eskinzai added that Aydın has high export potential in agriculture and industry and expressed his wishes that 2021 export figure will double.
Eskinazi stated that exports in Turkey began in İzmir, but the product that was exported was Aydın Fig, and first railway in our country was built between İzmir and Aydın in order to deliver Aydın Figs and Cotton to the world faster and more efficiently.
''Today, many sectors from mining to automotive dry fruits are at the forefront of the exports of Aydın. As Aegean Exporters' Associations, we announced to the public 56 members who contributed $7.8 billion in exports of 16 billion 325 million dollars in 2021. 6 of our companies that are pioneers in the air conditioning, mining and automotive sectors and invest in sustainability were from Aydın. We hope that the stars of enlightened exports will increase even more.''
Ranked among the top five in Aydın exports, the awards given to the Jantsa, Kaltun Mining, Uğur Soğutma, Qua Trading and Alabanda Mining companies by Jak Eskinazi, Vice President of the Aegean Exporters' Association, Birol Celep, President of the Aegean Dry Fruits and Products Exporters Association, Davut Er, President of the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Association Sinan Kızıltan, President of the Industry Association of Turkish Aquaculture and Animal Products Exporters Yalçın Ertan, Speaker of Aydın Commodity Exchange A. Bahri Erdel, Board Chairman of Fevzi Çondur and President of the Board Directors at Aydın Chamber of Industry, Mehmet Yunus Şahin.
Following the award ceremony, the panel moderated by Dünya Newspaper Editor Handan Sema Ceylan, Dünya Newspaper Editor Şeref Oğuz, Author Erhan Aslanoğlu and Agriculture Author Ali Ekber Yıldırım, pointed out the export problems and solution proposals experienced in our country and the world economy, the current situation of our country with the world economy, Covid-19, the effects of the Ukraine- Russia War on our country and all over the world, as well as problems and solution proposals in farming.
The panel ended with a Q&A.
