President’s Message

The extraordinary period we experienced with the pandemic has once again proved how important the agricultural sector is for a country. Considering the problems many countries faced in food supply, it is a great chance for Türkiye to get through this period without damage thanks to our geographical advantages and production power. This situation also helped us open new doors in exports.

Our cereals, pulses, oil seeds and products industry is the largest sub-sector in the agriculture category in terms of export values. As the Istanbul Cereals, Pulses, Oil Seeds and Products Exporters’ Association (IHBIR), we realize more than a quarter of the sector’s total exports. We are aware of our responsibility and value in the sector as IHBIR members, who completed 2021 with 2.7 billion dollars of exports to 192 countries.

The changing supply chains and logistics in the post-pandemic period have made Türkiye’s geographical advantage even more evident. We are aware that there is a long and difficult way ahead in order to use this advantage in the best way and to increase our exports. At first, we aim to expand the exporter pool in the sector and make easier the access of companies with limited opportunities despite their potential to the export ecosystem. One of our most important objectives is to turn each one of them into a valuable exporter by making special studies especially for SME and producers beneath SME and contribute to the Turkish economy in this way.

Raising the perception and brand of Türkiye in the food industry is also among the priority targets we have set for IHBIR. We aim to attend all the events abroad where we may promote our products to achieve this objective. In order to secure the advantage we have gained with the pandemic, we will spread all over the world and act as the ambassadors of our country and our industry. We will increase the number of trade delegations we organize abroad and communicate closer with potential buyers. We will assist exporters in reaching new markets, ramp up activities to promote our industry’s manufacturing and distribution capabilities, and work to gain a larger slice of the global cake.

Based on the fact that 70% of our exports are from the snack group, we aim to strengthen our presence here. We will increase our influence in this area, which we think has serious potential, with the right moves such as increasing value-added production and toning up the perception of ‘made in Türkiye’ and a solid strategy to be established.

In addition to the geographies where we are already strong, we aim to reach new markets with the growth of the world snack market.

We will always be in contact with all IHBIR members while determining export targets. We will act together to solve the problems of the sector both in export and production. We will strive to find solutions as soon as possible.

I would like to offer my respect, greetings and love to the entire IHBIR family.

Kazım Taycı
Chairman of the Istanbul Cereals, Pulses, Oil Seeds and Products Exporters’ Association