“In 2012 samples were taken from 15, 200 shelves and were subjected to health control. There wasn ‘t a little bit of negative and harmful factor.”
Food Turkey conducted an exclusive interview with Mr. Sahin Aydemir, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Turkish Poultry Promotion Group. Full text of the interview follows:
Which animal promotions do you assume?
We, as Turkish Poultry Promotion Group, promote chickens, turkeys, ducks and their all kinds of products worldwide and to carry them to international markets.
Could you furnish us with information about the capacity and quality of the Turkish poultry sector? Where do we stand with regards to these two issues?
Turkey is one of the luckiest countries about these issues because the Turkish poultry industry is one of the developing sectors and it has latest technologies and know-how. Right now, we are very competitive as far as technology, human force, infrastructural facilities, etc. in the world. I can comfortably pronounce that the Turkish white meat consumers and the ones that buy from Turkey, consume the healthiest white meat and eggs of the world.
Can you give us some capacity figures?
Turkey’s egg production reached 14-15 billion/year. Our white meat production is 1.8 million tons. We have a great place in domestic and international market with this capacity.
Under what conditions the Turkish white meat is produced? Are modern integrated facilities majority in number?
You have to produce your products with the healthiest and the best way possible in order to survive in today’s harsh competition. Consumers are very conscious in our time. They don’t buy every product from every supplier. They buy only from the ones that they trust. Turkey has become a reliable source with many integrated plants. There are no small and uncontrollable establishments. The competition in the sector has made this realized. There is a strict control in Turkey by the ministry. In 2012 samples were taken from 15,200 shelves and were subjected to health control. There wasn’t a little bit of negative and harmful factor. This can be seen on the webpage of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Could you furnish us with the information about dry-defeathering technique? Is this technique more advantageous for the consumer than others?
This is a technique discovered after many important researches for hygiene and human health. Last few years witnessed a lot of researches at this regard in the world. Finally a company discovered that the chickens could be defeathered by means of air just two years ago. This system exists only at 3-4 companies in 3-4 countries. But this method will develop fast and will be widespread soon. With this technique we can get more hygiene and healthy and cleaner chicken. The system makes one-third amount of electric saving and two-thirds water saving, too. This means it is more environmentally friendly, too.
Have the Turkish producers prepared themselves and completed their certifications with regard to Halal Food segment?
We are an Islamic country. The importance placed by of our nation is very high. So, all of our establishments have their certifications and they operate according to this important rule.
Can you talk about our white meat exports?
Turkey’s white meat and egg exports are always in an increasing trend. We couldn’t export our products to even neighboring countries until recently. One of the reasons for this was Turkey didn’t have market researches because the companies were usually small sized establishments. Only some companies would do this conveniently and successfully. With the establishment of Poultry Promotion Group, the power of the sector was reflected to the general level and an export boom was experienced. In 2012 our sector realized an export volume of over 900 million dollars and it is expected that we will reach to 1.2 billion dollars in 2013. We revised our 2013 target from 1 billion to 1.2 and our major target is 5 billion dollars for the year 2023.
There is a huge increasing trend in the consuming habit in Turkey. 9-11 kg consuming rate per head reached to 19 kg in our time. Number of eggs jumped up to 170. This shows that protein consuming of emerging countries is increasing. This, in fact, shows both, the development level of our country and our people tend to consume healthier animal protein. The animal protein resources are very important especially for the health of children. We are very close to the level of Europe’s average in white meat consumption but we are still short in egg consumption because Europe’s average is 220-250. To catch them in white meat, all we need is only 1-2 kg per head. Their average amount is 21 kg.
Can you furnish us about your members and the benefits you offer them?
The organizational structure of Poultry Products Promotion Group is constituted with the participation of companies belong to exporters unions which are under TIM (Turkish Exporters Assembly), which is under the roof of Ministry of Economy.
So, all of the exporters are natural members of our organization. The organization is managed by a board which comes from among exporters. We provide right information to our members about the domestic and international market. We promote the nature and level of the Turkish poultry sector to world markets. We promote our quality with sectorial information. We associate with joint commission members in the EU region. We have similar operations worldwide.
How do you promote the Turkish poultry sector worldwide? Can you mention your activities in abroad?
We have various activities for promotion in abroad. First, we conduct R&D studies. That is, we make market researches. We compare our market with world markets. We evaluate the cases of our competitors.This is our first step. Then we determine target markets. We conduct detailed market researches in targeted markets and we participate in the fairs in those markets. We attended fairs in 17 countries this year. We also make efforts to straight up things with countries which our people face problems in documents, etc. We made activities to open up doors with China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia this year. As you know, a joint protocol was signed with China about exports of agricultural products. We will start selling directly to China where we would sell only indirectly until now. Providing right information is our most important task. We made important Works in different countries in Europe, in Libya and some other countries of Africa, in Asia, etc.
We are in the center of the world markets. This market represents 32 billion dollars in white meat and 6 billion of eggs. We are second in the world egg exports and seventh in white meat. We consider that we have just entered the world liege in this sector. Despite our young organization we have managed a long way in such a short time. We are the leader sector in Turkey in export increase rate for last three years. I believe that Turkey will reach the level it deserves in the coming years. We are currently exporting to 55 countries and our target is to increase this number to 70-100. We have a respectful place in the world poultry industry. The healthiest white meat and eggs are consumed in Turkey.
You are participating in Anuga Fair. What kind of activity are you planning in this fair? Do you have any suggestions for the professionals who will visit this fair?
We will be at that fair as we were many times before. They should visit our stand where they will witness the developments happen in Turkey. Our board directors and experts will be there to promote the level of Turkish poultry sector to the world media and traders.
Are there problems in the sector and do you have solutions for them?
There have always been problems in the sector and there will always be. I believe that the solutions come from the sector partners. We should act altogether as the saying reads, “united we stand, divided we fall”. We should always be in cooperation and uniting forces to get the best result for the favor of everybody.
Is there anything you would especially like to add?
We live, and should be living, for our children, for the next generations. If we really care for our children we should never miss eggs from the breakfast table of our children because the values in the egg are as valuable as love. These are the basic nutrition values for them. White meat is very impartant, healthy and inevitable in our lives. If we want to invest for our future we should consume healthy animal protein which is exactly the definition of Turkish poultry.
