We have recently interviewed Ismail Hakki Yilmaz, Chairm an of the Board of HasTavuk. Excerp ts:
How long has HasTavuk been operating in the poultry sector? What are the major milestones of the Company?
Well, HasTavuk has been operating in Turkish poultry sector since 1972. Embarking on its activities with chicken feed dealership, HasTavuk initiated its efforts on chick breeding in Bursa province in 1982. This investment was followed by another investments in Sivrihisar and Afyon in 2003. HasTavuk has also launched its Balıkesir Susurluk White Meat Integrated facilities as of June 2013. Covering an area of 1.815.000 square meters, HasTavuk has been operating in the poultry sector with its 950 personnel, by focusing on producing diverse range of layer-and broiler hatching eggs, day-old chicks, meat chickens layer pullets and feed in an integrated manner. The Company has turned out to be the largest breeding firm which is able to export to various countries. Being able to meet 70% of the demand of domestic market in Turkey, HasTavuk is the owner of Europe’s largest hatchery with its incubation capacity.
What particular areas of the poultry sector are you involved in?
Has Tavuk operates in every stage of poultry from stalling eggs to bait production. The company has management centers in Bursa and Sivrihisar district of Eskisehir where it also has bait production plants and hatcheries.
Could you mention about hygienerelated practices of HasTavuk?
HasTavuk, being uncompromising in terms of its hygiene chain with modern disinfection, air-handling and ventilation systems, has always been keen on quality, hygiene, productivity, consumer satisfaction and environment-friendly products. The Company puts emphasis on a healthy chick breeding family.The products are efficiently transported to the final consumer thorough strictly monitored cold storage. HasTavuk products have barcodes which indicates the slaughtering date, the farming unit of the chicken, the feed content, and the origin of the feed. This system is called as four-stage hygiene chain.
The chickens are brought to the slaughterhouse; their final check is performed by public veterinarians and inhouse veterinarians. Upon approval of the veterinarians, the chickens are conveyed to the slaughtering unit and the slaughtering process begins. The system is monitored by 7/24 operating cameras.
Could you brief us on your halal slaughtering processes of HasTavuk?
HasTavuk puts emphasis on strictly monitored hand cutting and the related Islamic practices within the entire process of slaughtering.
-Could you mention about your production capacity?
In terms of full capacity, HasTavuk is able to handle 200,000 chicken slaughtering daily.
What about your export performance?
HasTavuk, operating in its sector for 42 years, being the largest chick breeding company of Turkey, has been exporting to 22 countries. The Company sells 70% of its total production in the domestic market, while exporting the remaining 30 % to the foreign markets.
How do you evaluate Turkey’s position as far as the poultry sector is concerned?
Turkey, being advantageous due to its proximity to the target markets, has turned out to be renowned for its poultry exports. About two years ago, Turkey was exporting poultry products to the 20 countries. The Country has been exporting to 55 countries including China, Japan, Togo, Ghana, S. Arabia, Libya, Jordan and Egypt. The poultry exports of the country totaled 680 million dollars in 2011, while it was 370 million dollars in 2010. As for the future export figures of the sector, 1.5 billion dollars for 2014 and 2 billion dollars for 2015 are estimated.
As for the epidemic diseases, what are the major preventive measures taken by you?
Well, our sector has faced a serious test when “Avian Influenza” dominated the agenda of Turkey. However, the poultry sector of the country has been able to overcome this crisis. Besides, Turkey was selected as a success story as far as its preventive measures related to the disease are concerned.
It should be noted that that the sector is monitored by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture in order to eliminate the risks of the epidemic diseases.
As known, you have a lovely comic character Civcime, could you mentioned about that?
The story of our magazine Civcime is vey interesting indeed. As for the character Civcime, it was designed by one of our workers; its name was suggested by one of our managers.
The magazine, registered as title and logo displays the news items and the activities of Hastavuk.
Do you participate in the international fairs?
The international fairs are the major platforms in which we display our technology, quality, and palate taste. For this reason, we have always a keen eye on both domestic and international fairs not only as a regular participant but also a visitor.
