Issue 38: A Success Story from Anatolia to the World: Bilara

The Aydın Commodity Exchange, which develops projects to promote the growth of production, trade, and export in Aydın, an agricultural city, continues its efforts with the mission of enhancing the global competitiveness and foreign trade volume of its members. Exchange participates in fairs that provide opportunities for the promotion of companies shaping the development of the food and food technology sectors, as well as for branded products to meet domestic and international visitors.

The Aydın Commodity Exchange, along with the sister exchange, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, attended the International Food Products and Technologies Fair - WorldFood Istanbul 2022, with their members.

One of the members of the Aydın Commodity Exchange, Yasemin Korkut, who successfully connects Aydın's local products with global markets through her achievements in the fruit and vegetable drying initiative, participated in the WorldFood Istanbul Food Fair, the international meeting point of the food sector.

Did you establish any partnerships with companies after the fair? With which countries did your trade potential begin? What were your most in-demand products?

During the fair, we had bilateral meetings with companies from many countries. In these meetings, we talked to them about both the vision of Anadolu Gıda and our range of products. During these very positive discussions, companies requested freeze-dried products from us. After the fair, we conducted a feasibility study and launched our freeze-dried project. To meet these companies' demands, we entered a new investment process. At the WorldFood Istanbul Fair in 2022, the countries that showed the most interest in all the products on our shelves were the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and Russia.

What are your expectations from this year’s WorldFood fair? Could you briefly explain your reasons for participating in or choosing WorldFood Istanbul?

WorldFood Istanbul is a highly attended fair, which is rapidly gaining recognition both domestically and internationally, and this will be our second participation. As Anadolu Gıda, we are very happy and hopeful to participate in the fair with the goal of introducing not only our existing products but also new ones to export markets and gaining new partners.

At the 2023 WorldFood Istanbul fair, we aim to reach agreements with potential buyers we are still in talks with and form new partnerships. We are especially excited to display our new and colorful stand showcasing our natural coloring powder products, which are dried, ground into flour, and the first of their kind in Turkey. Additionally, we want to observe the interest and demand in the freeze-dried sector, which is our new investment project.